Large-scale protests swept across Japan on Sunday as thousands opposed prime minister Sanae Takaichi ’s push to revise the country’s pacifist constitution . An estimated 50,000 people gathered at Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park, organisers said, to mark Constitution Memorial Day. Protesters rallied in support of the country’s existing constitution – unchanged since 3 May 1947 – and to oppose changes to its Article 9, a clause that renounces war and imposes limits on the country’s military. Successive Japanese governments have argued that the constitution, drawn up in the aftermath of a crushing defeat for Japan in the Second World War, is no longer fit to meet modern-day security challenges. Ms Takaichi and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have called for “advanced discussions” to amend parts of the constitution.…