On September 6, 2024, we started at 8am in front of the Supreme Court distributing flyers to court staff and doing street PR, and then at 9am, we took part in a protest calling for the acceptance of the appeal, along with the plaintiffs and supporters of the legal team! More supporters than we had expected showed up.

Below are some excerpts from the request:

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Ryutaro Kinjo, representative of the plaintiff, said, " The signatures of one-third of the city's voters calling for a referendum on whether to deploy the Ground Self-Defense Forces in the Heidoku Omata area of Ishigaki City required names, addresses, dates of birth, and gender, as well as a seal. The number of signatures requested far exceeded the number of joint signatures required by law, which is more than one-quarter of the number required to impose an obligation on the mayor of Ishigaki City under the Basic Ordinance of Ishigaki City Autonomy. Six years have passed since then. The referendum was never held, and even the ordinance on which it was based was deleted. However, even now, six years later, the light of courage and hope borne by the signatures at that time still shines. The flames are spreading bit by bit. As proof of this, a large number of signatures were collected in a short period of time calling for a Supreme Court hearing. The sadness that makes you hold back your tears and turn them into sweat, the pain that makes you breathe as if screaming in a hushed voice. Do you know what color it is, what sound it makes? I would encourage you to get closer, see things from a closer perspective, and experience this issue for yourself. I pray that the thoughts and wishes of the many people who were unable to be here and those who were unable to experience this moment will be conveyed through our voices and words.

Attorney Masaki Nakamura: " The role of the Supreme Court can be summed up in one word: 'Guardian of the Constitution.' As everyone has said, this case is nothing less than an instance in which the principles of local autonomy and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution are being violated. It is the Supreme Court that can rectify this situation. It is absolutely necessary for them to fulfill this mission . "

We are a group calling for a referendum in Ishigaki City.

Crowdfunding began on July 31, 2024, and we received a lot of donations in just one month! Thank you very much.

On September 4, 2024, we reached our initial goal of 500,000 yen. Today, on September 6, 2024, we will be traveling directly from Okinawa to the Supreme Court to request acceptance of our appeal and to hold a rally in Tokyo, with the plaintiffs, legal team, and all of our supporters. For those of us who live on a remote island, travel expenses have been a huge burden until now. We once again realize that it is only thanks to your support that we have been able to continue this activity. Once again, we would like to express our sincere gratitude.

Donations will be used to cover travel and accommodation costs, as well as holding meetings and press conferences. We encourage everyone who has been following our activities from CALL4 to join us at the Tokyo meeting to be held on September 6th (Meeting Room 6, House of Representatives 1st Members' Building)!

As the future development of our activities is unknown, we would like to continue to widely publicize our association's activities and aim to reach our next goal of another 1 million yen in order to make a strong appeal to the court.

Your support is greatly appreciated.