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    Japan's Hopeful Constitution
    Japan's Hopeful Constitution
    Japan's Hopeful Constitution
    Ebook51 pages31 minutes

    Japan's Hopeful Constitution

    By Fred Uleman

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    About this ebook

    Issued in 1948, this booklet explains Japan’s postwar Constitution with a special emphasis on why it says what it does. The new Constitution was written embodying the hopes of the war-weary nation, and this text elucidates its principles in easy-to-understand language. Although originally intended to counter wartime thinking, it is equally important in today’s political climate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateSep 9, 2014
    ISBN9784907886011
    Japan's Hopeful Constitution

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      Book preview

      Japan's Hopeful Constitution - Fred Uleman

      Law

      Translator's Introduction

      THIS BOOKLET was issued as a textbook in 1948, shortly after the new Constitution was promulgated. Before and during the war, everyone had been instructed to obey the Imperial Rescripts (e.g., the Imperial Rescript on Education) and other top-down directives from the state. After the war, a major effort was made to reverse course and teach democracy – the idea that the people are sovereign and that everyone has certain fundamental rights. Immediately after the war, this effort included blacking out sections of the old textbooks to remove the wartime ideology and the old directives. Then new textbooks were issued. This was among the new material put out.

      As such, it spends considerable space explaining the concept of democracy and how the government is structured. There are also explanations of how the philosophy underlying the new Constitution differs from that of the old Meiji Constitution. This is particularly striking in the section on the renunciation of war and the section on the Emperor as symbol.

      I decided to translate this and make it available in English because we are again hearing talk of amending (revising, improving, gutting, or whatever you want to call it) the Constitution and I thought it would be helpful for observers who do not read Japanese to have access to this early explanation of what and why the Constitution is. Constitutional revision is very controversial. Article 9 is not the only issue at stake. It is important all of the participants in the discussion be fully informed of the history as well as the present arguments. I hope this translation can contribute to the debate.

      Fred Uleman

      Kawasaki, Japan

      1. What a Constitution is

      WE HAVE a new Constitution. Starting May 3, 1947, it is the duty of all Japanese to respect and uphold this Constitution. Many people worked hard to craft this new Constitution. But there are still many people who do not understand what the Constitution is. There may even be some people who think the Constitution is irrelevant to their lives. These people could not be more wrong.

      Because the business of government goes on uninterrupted 24 hours every day, it is important everyone be very clear what the government is supposed to do. All manner of rules and regulations are needed. Among them, the rules and regulations embodied in the Constitution are the most important.

      How will the country be governed? What will the government do? At the most fundamental level, this Constitution is the answer. Think about your house. What would happen if the main pillars were missing? The house would collapse, of course. For the state, the Constitution provides the main pillars. Without

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