Constitution Of Japan Research Articles

Motherhood discourses and political activism in post-3.11 movements in Japan

ABSTRACT The triple disaster in March 2011 (i.e. 3.11) triggered a national crisis that affected Japanese society on many levels. Strikingly, this crisis gave visibility to protest groups with no prior political activity organizing demonstrations against the government. One such group was Mama no Kai, an assembly of anti-war mothers protesting against peace and security legislation and the amendment of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan. This paper focuses on Mama no Kai activism and the group’s use of motherhood discourses. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with assembly members, the study aims to identify the primary characteristics of mothers’ activism in the post-3.11 era, the development of the use of motherhood discourses, and the contribution of their strategies to the paradigm shift of mothers’ movements in Japanese urban activism.

The Basis and System of Fundamental Human Rights Guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan

The concept of human rights (natural rights), which stepped into the limelight of human history in the latter half of the eighteenth century, rapidly disappeared from the limelight in the nineteenth century and was replaced by the legal positivist concept of rights (in Japan, it was strongly advocated at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration in the latter half of the nineteenth century but rapidly faded away). After World War I, human rights came to be strongly advocated in the realm of international law, especially in the face of the tyranny of totalitarian regimes, and the United Nations Charter adopted at the San Francisco Conference in June 1945 proclaimed human dignity and respect for human rights. The Potsdam Declaration of July of the same year (accepted by the Japanese government in August) strongly called for “the establishment of respect for human rights.” Initially, the Japanese government and people did not take the meaning of this seriously but in February 1946, the General Headquarters strongly demanded that the Constitution stipulate the guarantee of human rights. The Constitution of Japan, which was enacted in the form of an amendment to the Meiji Constitution, sets forth that “the people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights” (Article 11) and calls for “the supreme consideration” for “their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Article 13).(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)

On the issue of prospects for changing the 9th Article of the Constitution of Japan: Historical aspect and Modernity

On the issue of prospects for changing the 9th Article of the Constitution of Japan: Historical aspect and Modernity

Constitutionalism in Poetry, Poetry in Constitutionalism: Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ Ibrāhīm’s Imagining of Contemporary Constitutional Movements

Abstract This paper focuses on the sociocultural and historical context in which the Egyptian poet Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ Ibrāhīm (c. 1872–1932) represented contemporary constitutional movements in the Muslim world, with special emphasis on developments in the Ottoman Empire and in late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Egypt – back then, at least nominally, still a part of it – and extending to Iran’s Constitutional Revolution. References in Ḥāfiẓ Ibrāhīm’s poetry to constitutionalism in Japan will also be discussed in order to point out that the poet, while closely following constitutional movements in the Ottoman Empire and in Iran, in fact viewed constitutionalism as an historical process transcending geographical and cultural boundaries. Therefore, we shall also try to identify the general idea of history underlying Ḥāfiẓ Ibrāhīm’s portrayal of constitutionalism. Comparative references to constitutional poetry in Iran of that time are intended to point out the supra-regional dimension both of constitutionalism itself and of poetical modes of imagining it. Likewise, this approach is designed to make the point that constitutional poetry in the Muslim world at that time was more than just poetic commentary on constitutional movements; it was itself part of them.

Fragmented Legitimacy: The Rhetorical Construction of Constitutional Legitimacy in Postwar Japan

ABSTRACT In the light of constitutional transition from the Meiji Constitution (1889–1946) to the Constitution of Japan (1946-), Japanese intellectuals faced the issue of constructing new constitutional legitimacy in place of the previous one. This legitimacy-building became fragmented between the postwar liberal and conservative: while the former regards the liberal values in the postwar constitution as a new legitimacy, the latter attributes the traditional emperor system to it. However, the extant scholarship has not analysed the details of this fragmented discourse as a whole. This paper examines how the four notable Japanese postwar intellectuals from both liberal and conservative sides –Miyazawa Toshiyoshi, Maruyama Masao, Tsuda Sōkichi, and Watsuji Tetsurō – used rhetorical tropes to account for new legitimacy. The paper studies the intellectuals’ tropes from three rhetorical axes: target audience (particular-cosmopolitan), legitimate source (historicity-normativity), and historical identity (continuity-discontinuity). In doing so, it makes two claims. First, the fragmented frameworks of the postwar constitutional legitimacy are the matter of different tropological constructions of rhetorical/persuasive discourse. Second, the postwar fragmentation of constitutional legitimacy reflects the foundational condition of the contemporary debate over constitutional revision: Japan as a whole has not yet legitimised the postwar constitution as their own.

A Historical Analysis of the LDP’s 2018 Constitutional Amendment Proposals

In 2018 Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party announced four new proposals to amend the seven-decades-old and thus-far unamended constitution of Japan. These include adding a third paragraph to Article 9, as well as state-of-emergency provisions, support for students in need, and changes to the electoral system. By analyzing each proposal’s place in the debate on amendments dating back to the 1950s, I show that these very different proposals share one important feature that sets them apart from recent drafts aiming for wholesale reform of the constitution: they are relatively minimalist in nature. This new modesty is due to the necessity to win over other parties and voters, but it is also an attempt to cement rather than to change the LDP-made status quo.

A review of two beliefs of parliamentary government in postwar Japan: Japanese/French beliefs beneath the British canopy

Abstract Although the 1947 Constitution of Japan was enacted under the occupation of the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers, it is thought that a British-style parliamentary government was introduced in Japan at this time. Leading constitutional scholars in postwar Japan believed in two ideas derived from the British constitutional history: (i) monistic parliamentary government and (ii) the free exercise of dissolution power by the British cabinet. Both of these ideas have been widely shared among constitutional scholars in Japan. However, in fact, these two beliefs derived from French scholars, and British constitutional scholars did not share them. The difference in substance and approach between the Japanese/French and the British interpretations was never explored in Japan. Japanese scholars sought a rational understanding of the British parliamentary government, thereby overlooking the empiricist understanding.

A Study on the Succession to the Imperial Throne and the Constitution of Japan

A Study on the Succession to the Imperial Throne and the Constitution of Japan

Privacy Protection in Public Spaces under the Constitution of Japan

Privacy Protection in Public Spaces under the Constitution of Japan

Freedom of Association and Privacy against the Threat of Surveillance-oriented Information Collection under the Constitution of Japan

Freedom of Association and Privacy against the Threat of Surveillance-oriented Information Collection under the Constitution of Japan

Implications of Revision of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan on the Defense Policy of Japan

Implications of Revision of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan on the Defense Policy of Japan

Japan's Constitution Across Time and Space

Japan's Constitution Across Time and Space

March First Independence Movement, Constitution of Japan, and Peace in East Asia

March First Independence Movement, Constitution of Japan, and Peace in East Asia

A flexibilidade do pacifismo japonês

Com o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945), em 1947 o Japão adotou uma nova Constituição, conhecida como um dos grandes símbolos dos ideais pacifistas desde o seu estabelecimento, devido ao Artigo 9º, – onde são restringidos os poderes militares do país. Por esse motivo, qualquer tentativa de revisão da Constituição tem impacto tanto doméstica como regional e internacionalmente. Todavia, é preciso abrir a caixa-preta para analisar se a Constituição japonesa é norteada, de fato, pelo pacifismo. À luz das concepções dos realismos sobre a necessidade de um país responder às ameaças do sistema internacional, e questionando o pacifismo nipônico, o presente artigo revisita a história da Constituição do Japão e de suas Forças de Autodefesa com o intuito de debater o comportamento do arquipélago, principalmente no século XXI. A hipótese que norteia este artigo é de que, ao longo da história, as interpretações do governo japonês sobre a Constituição e suas forças de defesa eram e são necessárias diante das transformações do sistema internacional, o que impulsiona a necessidade de flexibilização do documento e o fortalecimento das capacidades de suas forças de defesa.

Social Movements and Constitutionalism in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan

AbstractThis article considers whether the academic inquiry of comparative constitutionalism in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan may be further developed by a full consideration of the relevance of social movements. Integrating social movement theories into comparative constitutional law, this article argues that a more nuanced positive account of the creation and consolidation of constitutionalism in these East Asian polities must be situated within the engagement of social movements in discursive venues for formal and informal constitutional change.

Societal Constitutionalism in Japan: Neighbourhood Associations as Micro-relational Constitutional Sites

AbstractOver the past few years, Japan has been witnessing the emergence, regeneration, and spread of micro-relational forms of cohesion, solidarity, and responsibility in response to theryūdō-ka shakaiandhikikomoriphenomena. These terms refer to the crisis of social relations and co-operation, which commenced after the collapse of the Japanese economy in the early 1990s. While scholars, particularly sociologists and anthropologists, have consistently inquired into these micro-sites of civic friendship and responsibility, their juridical status is yet to be ascertained. This article argues that the paradigm of societal constitutionalism developed by Gunther Teubner can be of precious assistance in conducting such an assessment. In particular, it offers a contextualization of Teubner’s reflections on constitutional pluralism and fragmentation of social functions from the perspective of Kiyoshi Hasegawa’s state-centric scholarship on the regulatory dynamics of neighbourhood associations as micro-relational communities in suburban areas. A particular is given, and only given, within relations.1

Regulations on Japanese Video Games for Protection of Children in Japan

In Japan, video games are generally regulated by self-imposed control and voluntary ratings by third parties, rather than by law. There is no special statute tailored to regulate video game software. Some people criticize this absence of law as being too lenient when it comes to protecting children. There are few studies published in English that are written by Japanese legal scholars that review regulations intended to protect children in Japan. Using a comparative law approach, comparing Japanese law with U.S. law, this paper contends that there are several tools to control and regulate video games for the purpose of protecting children. The use of legal devices is simply one of several means to achieve this goal. Even if legal regulations are enacted, they may not be very effective. Moreover, they could even have negative impacts on the freedom of expression that is protected under the Constitution of Japan.

Freedom of Expression by Online Platform Operators in the Course of Handling Information on a Platform under the Constitution of Japan

Freedom of Expression by Online Platform Operators in the Course of Handling Information on a Platform under the Constitution of Japan

“Involvement in Governmental Affairs”(Constitution of Japan, Art.4, Cl.1)

“Involvement in Governmental Affairs”(Constitution of Japan, Art.4, Cl.1)

The Extent to Which Freedom of Anonymous Expression Is Ensured under the Constitution of Japan

The Extent to Which Freedom of Anonymous Expression Is Ensured under the Constitution of Japan