Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama has joined a demonstration in Tokyo, protesting a series of security bills currently being pushed through parliament by the current Japanese government.
Murayama has taken time to address the crowd of around 2-thousand in-front of the country's Parliament, suggesting the new bills being sponsored by current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are a political ploy.
"The act of willfully satisfying his own desires, regardless of citizens' opinions, just by using his power of premiership is nothing but tyranny. It is intolerable."
The 91-year old Murayama, who famously issued a Japanese apology for the country's wartime past during his time as Prime Minister 20-years ago, says Japan's pacifist Constitution needs to be maintained.
"I don't know how many years I have left, but as long as I live, I will do everything to protect the Peace Constitution. Let's all work together for this."
Under the new bills being moved forward by the Abe administration, the Japanese military will be able to engage in armed conflicts overseas, and can also be sent in to help defend the country's allies, even if Japan isn't under threat.
Japan's Constitution, drafted by the United States after World War II, specifically restricts the Japanese military to self-defense only.
The proposed legislation still needs to move through the upper house of the Japanese parliament.
If a vote isn't held in the upper chamber within the next two months, it will be sent back to the lower house, where Abe's coalition government should be able to make the bills law with a two-thirds majority.
