Category: Japan
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Why Japan should amend its war-renouncing Article 9
[By Craig Martin, reprinted from the Japan Times, Aug. 4, 2012] The pressure is mounting to either amend Article 9, the war-renouncing provision of Japan’s Constitution, or to increasingly disregard it and so make it irrelevant. In April the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) published its proposal for amending the Constitution, and the dangers it posed…
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Dangerous Proposals for Amending Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan
[Initially published in The Japan Times, June 6, 2012 and reproduced with permission] The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) published its new draft constitutional amendment proposal in late April. The draft reflects a number of significant changes above and beyond those advanced in the proposal unveiled by the LDP in 2005.
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Happy 65th Birthday, Japanese postwar constitution …
… and here’s to the next 65. There are a number of interesting facts and longstanding myths surrounding the Nihonkoku Kenpo, which went into effect 65 years ago today: few constitutions have gone longer without being amended (true!), even though it was “imposed” by “the United States” (not true …) The Asahi Shimbun has a…
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The Buck Stops Nowhere: Japan’s Continuing Governance Problem
The first anniversary of Japan’s nuclear crisis is an occasion for sorrow and remembrance, but also an opportunity to evaluate the consequences of the tsunami for Japan’s governance system. As reported by a recent report by Japan’s Rebuild Japan Initiative, a private group, the natural disaster was exacerbated by managerial and governance disasters.
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Japan’s Supreme Court finds lay participation in criminal trials constitutional
On November 16, 2011 Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that the country’s new “saiban’in” system of citizen participation in serious criminal trials was constitutional. Issued unanimously by all fifteen of the court’s judges sitting en banc as a Grand Bench, this ruling effectively eliminates any constitutional doubts about the system which may have lingered after it…
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Japan update: Kimigayo lawsuits fail once again
The Tokyo District Court rejected an attempt by Tokyo schoolteachers to nullify the punishments they received for refusing to participate in ceremonies involving the national anthem. This is consistent with the earlier Suphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrme Court decisions we noted here as well a more recent decision by the Supreme Court in July that rejected similar appeals from…
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Japan update: Kimigayo lawsuits fail again
The Tokyo District Court rejected an attempt by Tokyo schoolteachers to nullify the punishments they received for refusing to participate in ceremonies involving the national anthem. This is consistent with the earlier Suphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrme Court decisions we noted here as well a more recent decision by the Supreme Court in July that rejected similar appeals from…
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Supreme Court of Japan rejects national anthem claims
In a series of cases over this past month, each of the three benches of Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for school principals to order teachers to stand and sing the national anthem (the Kimigayo) at school ceremonies.
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The unstable presidentialization of Japan’s parliamentary system
Scholars sometimes speak of the presidentialization of parliamentary systems. Japan’s political constitution has been moving in this disrection since the election of Junichiro Koizumi in 2001. In the Japanese system, MPs of the leading parties function as a kind of “electoral college” choosing as Prime Minister NOT their de facto leader BUT rather someone popular…
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New developments in Japanese religion case
As noted in January, the Japanese Supreme Court held that Sunagawa city’s allowing the free use of its land by the Sorachi-buto shrine violated two provisions of the Japanese Constitution: Art. 20(1) (“No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority.”)