Knowing your place

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako bow to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, 1 January 2019

Japan Pool · Jiji Press · AFP · Getty

Japan is facing its worst political crisis since 1947, when its present constitution came into force. Prime minister and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Shinzo Abe, who is attempting to stifle the principles of democracy, plans to ask the electorate to approve constitutional revisions proposed by his party in 2012. The 1947 constitution replaced the 1889 Constitution of the Empire of Japan, under which the country had waged a 15-year war of colonial aggression (1931-45). The new constitution marked the transition from imperial sovereignty, under which the Japanese were subjects, to popular sovereignty, in which they became citizens. This radical change came after terrible loss of life, both during the colonial expansion pursued by the military-fascist regime and in the bombing of Tokyo during the night of 9-10 March 1945 and the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki that August.

Though the 1947 constitution retains the principle of Tennoism, which places the emperor and the imperial institution at the heart of the political system, it follows the tradition of France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 in seeking to defend natural, civil, sacred and imprescriptible rights. The modern Japan that emerged from the devastation of war was built on the idea of ending the system of state oppression once and for all.

But now, especially since the start of the second Abe government in December 2012, the democratic postwar Japan is being deliberately dismantled. The first stage of the proposed constitutional revision would remilitarise the country through an amendment to article 9, which prohibits Japan from having armed forces. But its underlying intention goes much further, seeking to undermine the fundamental principles of modern constitutional government as a system for the defence of public liberties. Therein lies its real danger.

An 'ethnic' nation

The ruling party, which (…)

Full article: 1 740 words.

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Akira Mizubayashi

Akira Mizubayashi is a novelist writing in French and Japanese. His works include Dans les eaux profondes: Le bain japonais (In Deep Waters: the Japanese bath), Arléa, Paris, 2018, and Âmes brisées (Broken Souls), Gallimard, Paris, 2019.

Source: mondediplo.com