Suchergebnisse

The Japanese constitution of 1889 is not, as is frequently assumed, chiefly the product of the labors of Hirobumi Ito and his secretaries who, in 1882–1883, studied constitutional systems in Europe preparatory to drafting the text of the fundamental law which the Emperor had promised in the celebrated rescript of 1881. Discussion of constitutional progress had begun as far back as 1867 and, immediately following the restoration, Meiji statesmen began the task of drafting projects of a constitution. Okubo, Goto, Kido, and Itagaki played leading rôles in urging the adoption of a national charter, and when Okubo and Kido relaxed their efforts, Itagaki initiated a popular campaign. Finally, in 1876, a formal commission of the Genro-in (Senate) was appointed to draft a constitution, while in 1880, its completed project was laid before the Emperor. This draft proposed a form of government having many features of the British parliamentary system.

Some revision of the present Japanese constitution probably cannot long be put off. Often referred to as the "MacArthur Constitution," it is open to the charge that it needs to be brought into accord with Japan's restored status of independence.Although the immediate pressure for change is directed at the existing constitutional ban on rearmament, a more important change that can be anticipated will concern the position of the emperor in relation to the locus of sovereignty. This bears directly on the basic nature of the Japanese state, the central problem of the most bitter controversy in Japanese constitutional history. This problem, now dormant, is likely to be revived very soon, for the present constitution's treatment of the status of the emperor is highly vulnerable on substantive, procedural, and historical grounds.

Whether the ban on war and military forces in the 1946 Constitution has contributed to peace and security for Japan and her neighbors; conference paper.

Japan's postwar constitution renounces not only war but also military forces. It was hoped that this unique "peace constitution" would protect both the Japanese people and their peace-loving neighbors from the horrors of war. Although Japan maintains "self-defense forces," has the world's eighth-largest military budget, and permits the United States to maintain military bases on her soil, she has not been directly involved in wars since 1945. Gen. Douglas MacArthur and some Japanese pacifists have urged that all the world's nations follow Japan's lead and outlaw war and arms in their constitutions to bring about the global "abolition of war." However, no other countries have done so. Instead, wars in Asia have been more frequent and have involved many more countries (most of them newly independent) in the 40 years since 1946 than during the four decades previous.