A group of citizens was dissatisfied with the city mayor's handling of the construction plans for the new city hall behind the current 1950 building since the last remaining piece of the Edo Period castle, a section of hand-built stone rampart measuring 3.5m by 20 or 25m, would be dislocated and deconstructed. Filing the freedom of information requests showed that the process was not thorough. The march began with speeches by megaphone in front of the city hall and then proceeded on a circuit through downtown for about 20 minutes on a route that passed the Education Department building and came up to the Shokaku-ji (temple) which hosts the original castle's main gate that was moved to safety when the feudal government transitioned to the modern, parliamentary one in 1867. The march ended at a small city center plaza where the marchers joined the chorus (in English, with lyric sheets) for "We Shall Overcome," and the old-time labor union song "頑張ろう" (ganbarou; 'here we go!').
