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[BBC]
Japanese man sets self on fire over military rule change
Investigators and firefighters work at the scene where a man has set himself on fire, on a pedestrian walkway at Tokyo's busy Shinjuku railway station, Sunday, June 29
The incident took place on a bridge at the busy Shinjuku station in central Tokyo

A man set himself on fire in central Tokyo in protest at a proposed law which could allow Japan to deploy its military overseas.The man was taken to hospital after being hosed down but his condition was not immediately known, officials said.Japan's government could make the change to its pacifist constitution as early as next Tuesday.The US-drafted constitution bans war and "the threat or use of force" to settle international disputes.Witnesses said the middle-aged man, wearing a suit and tie, climbed onto a pedestrian bridge at Tokyo's Shinjuku station."He was sitting cross-legged and was just talking, so I thought it would end without incident," one eyewitness told Reuters. "Then all of a sudden his body was enveloped in fire."Reports said the man used a megaphone to shout for over an hour about the change to Japan's constitution.Video shown on national television in Japan showed the flames being extinguished by officers.
'Double standard'
Japan has well-equipped and well-trained armed forces but there are severe restrictions on them being deployed abroad.Under Article 9 of its post-war pacifist constitution, Japan is blocked from the use of force to resolve conflicts except in the case of self-defence.Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, on 15 May
Mr Abe has said Japan must change to adapt to a new security environment
But Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants a new interpretation of the constitution to be agreed on.
The move has split opinion inside the country. Critics of the move warn against what they see as increasing militarism, while conservatives argue that the restriction is a double standard forced upon Japan.
Mr Abe's plan has led to criticism from China, whose relations with the Japan have become strained over territorial disputes in East China Sea.Correspondents say the move will likely please the US, with whom Japan has a long-standing security treaty.

[New York Times]
Japanese Protester Sets Himself on Fire at Train Station in Tokyo
By MARTIN FACKLERJUNE 29, 2014
Investigators and firefighters at the site where a man set himself on fire at the Shinjuku railway station in Tokyo on Sunday. Credit Kyodo News, via Associated Press Continue reading the main storyShare This Page
TOKYO ― In a ghastly spectacle of a sort rarely seen in this orderly city, a man set himself on fire in front of horrified crowds at Tokyo’s busiest train station on Sunday in what appeared to be a lone protest against efforts to weaken Japan’s antiwar Constitution.
The police provided few details about the man, who survived with burns all over his body after being rushed to a Tokyo hospital. Firefighters appeared either to have been warned or to have discerned the man’s intentions, because they were on hand to douse him quickly with water once he set himself on fire with a liquid that looked like gasoline.
The self-immolation took place in broad daylight in front of hundreds of onlookers, who used cellphones and other devices to post graphic videos and photos of it on social media sites.
The images show a thin, middle-aged man in a dark suit who sat cross-legged atop the scaffolding of a pedestrian bridge in front of the busy Shinjuku train station.
At first, he used a megaphone to speak to gathering crowds.
While there is no audio with most of the images, several postings said the man told the crowd that he opposed efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to loosen restrictions in the Constitution on the use of military force, which is interpreted as allowing Japan to act only in self-defense.
Mr. Abe has called for a new interpretation that would allow the armed forces also to contribute to the defense of allied nations under attack, something they cannot now legally do.
While Mr. Abe says Japan needs more robust military alliances to offset the growing might of China, opponents on the left have staged small street protests to warn that the change could embroil Japan in distant, American-led wars.
After making his appeal, the man then suddenly set himself on fire. One video, shot from a window overlooking the bridge, showed the man engulfed in yellow flames while he sat cross-legged, as if meditating.
Firefighters, who were waiting below, quickly sprayed him with their hoses.
One rescuer then clambered up to knock the still-burning man
off the scaffolding and onto the center of the bridge in front of firefighters, who doused him for several seconds before treating him.

[Washington Post]
Man sets self afire in Tokyo in apparent protest
Investigators and firefighters work at the scene where a man has set himself on fire, on a pedestrian walkway at Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku railway station, Sunday, June 29, 2014. A man set himself on fire at the station on Sunday in an apparent political protest. The man, who appeared in his 50s or 60s, was taken to the hospital after suffering serious injuries, said an officer at the Shinjuku police station. He said the reason for the self-immolation was under investigation. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS June 29 at 9:34 AM
TOKYO ― A man set himself on fire at Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku railway station on Sunday in what appears to be a rare violent political protest.
The man, who appeared in his 50s or 60s, was taken to the hospital after suffering serious injuries, said Daiji Kubota, an officer at the Shinjuku police station. He said the man’s identity and the reason for the self-immolation was under investigation.
Footage of the incident on Twitter and other social media showed a man clad in a suit and tie sitting on a small mat along the metal framework above a pedestrian walkway with two plastic bottles of what looked like gasoline beside him.
Witnesses were quoted as saying the man spoke through a megaphone to protest the government’s moves to change Japan’s defense policy, doused himself with gasoline and set himself alight as hundreds of people watched from below and from nearby buildings.
Television reports showed firefighters pulling the man down onto the pedestrian bridge walkway and using hoses and a fire extinguisher to put out the fire before loading the victim into an ambulance.
Japan’s Cabinet is expected on Tuesday to approve a proposal calling for the right to “collective self-defense,” which would allow Japan to play a more assertive role in international security amid China’s growing military presence and rising regional tensions. Japan currently limits its participation even in U.N. peacekeeping activities to noncombat roles.
Critics say the shift undermines the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, and opposition groups have staged constant but peaceful protests outside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official residence.
Japan has had very few self-immolations in past decades despite a long history of suicides by ritual disembowelment, or seppuku, dating back to the feudal era. The most high-profile suicide for political reasons in the modern era was by Yukio Mishima, a right-wing author considered to be one of Japan’s greatest novelists, who killed himself in front of the headquarters of Japan’s Self Defense Forces in 1970 after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Al Jazeera]
Man self-immolates in Tokyo to protest expansion of Japan military options
Protest comes as Japanese prime minister pushes for broader defense in face of a rising China and volatile North Korea
June 29, 2014 10:05AM ET
A man in Japan set himself on fire at a busy intersection in Tokyo on Sunday in an apparent protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to broaden Japan’s military capabilities, police and witnesses said.
Authorities hosed down the unidentified man and carried him away, according to witness accounts and pictures posted to social media. It was not immediately clear whether he survived.
Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War II. Abe's cabinet could adopt a resolution as early as Tuesday revising a long-standing interpretation of the constitution in order to lift the ban.
According to witnesses and social media posts, the man appeared to be wearing a suit, glasses and a tie. He sat atop a pedestrian bridge and spoke through a megaphone to protest plans to end a ban on exercising “collective self-defense,” or aiding a friendly country under attack.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident, which took place near bustling Shinjuku station, but would not provide further details.
Ryuichiro Nakatsu, an 18-year-old student, said, “he was sitting cross legged and was just talking, so I thought it would end without incident. But when I came back to the same place 30 minutes later, he was still there. Then all of a sudden his body was enveloped in fire.”
“He was yelling against the government, about collective self-defense,” he said.
After World War II and during its occupation of Japan, the U.S. government drafted a constitution aimed at declawing a power that had just several years before swept across swaths of East Asia and Polynesia.
The planned change in defense strategy marks a major step away from U.S.-imposed post-War War II pacifism and widens Japan's military options. Under its constitution the country has had a limited, non-combatant role as part of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, and in peacekeeping operations.
Although Japan still boasts modern military equipment today, it can’t use it under the agreement.
Japanese conservatives say the constitution war-renouncing Article 9 has excessively restricted Japan's ability to defend itself. They also argue that a changing regional power balance ― including a rising China ― means Japan's security policies must be more flexible.
The move will likely rile an increasingly assertive Beijing, whose already delicate ties with Japan have chilled due to a maritime dispute, mutual mistrust and the legacy of Japan's past military aggression. Washington will welcome the move, having long urged Japan to become a more equal partner in the alliance between the two countries.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has maintained a strong military presence in Japan, tasked with protecting the country from international adversaries. The arrangement is costly for the U.S., which has seen its forces stretched thin over the last decade by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Japan began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years in April, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan. The move risks angering China, locked in a dispute with Japan over nearby islands, which they both claim.