10/10 PEACE WALK FOR ANIMALS 2002

This was a first organized protest of its kind in Japan for people to get together and publicly speak out against animal testing.
The protest this year targeted particularly animal experiments that are still conducted for cosmetic and household products, which are not required by law with a few exceptional cases. The protest called for a total ban of those tests by the government.
The protest took place in the town of Ginza, Tokyo, on October 10, 2003. Blessed with fine weather, despite the day being a weekday, over 130 people showed up and formed a 100m+ procession. Headed by an animal rights organization Animal Rights Center's Animal Rescue van, the people walked chanting, carrying posters and banners bearing messages on the issue, one of which signed by a famous novelist Akiyuki Nosaka.
The Body Shop, one of the well-known cosmetic companies that do not test on animals, supported the protest by providing a bunch of fake "rabbit ears" for the participants to wear, symbolizing many thousands of rabbits that are being tortured and killed every year for product safety tests.

After the walk caught so many people's attention and finally concluded in Hibiya Park, key members of the group went to visit the offices of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors to submit petition papers collected prior to the protest and brought in by the participants. The petition asked for an addition of a clause to the revised Animal Protection Laws, stating a principle ban on animal tests for cosmetic and household products.
The group continued on to the Shiseido Headquarters office, a cosmetic giant which has continued to carry out animal experiments to date. The group met with the Shiseido management and handed in yet another petition with signatures and messages from individuals asking the company to stop their use of animals.

The protest will continue to take place to spread the truth about the crudeness and the danger of animal tests.

 


What is PEACE WALK FOR ANIMALS?
Peace Walk for Animals is part of a campaign involving direct actions to reduce and end animal suffering in experiments.
The target of the protest on October 10, 2002 was cosmetic and household product companies which conduct animal testing for their product development.