Research On Post-War Japanese Constitutional Amendment

After the end of the Second World War,Japan carried out a series of democratic reforms under occupation of the United States,of which the most important part was to establish the Constitution of Japan.As a continuation of constitutionalism in modern Japan,the Constitution of Japan had eliminated the system of feudal despotism and militarism.It also established the three principles of National Sovereignty,Pcifism and Democrac.The purport of the Pcifism in the Constitution of Japan was that Japan completely put an end to ‘wage war caused by the government action',determined to ‘give up war',‘do not hold the strength of war',and finally ‘lasting peace'.In the article 9 of the Constitution of Japan,‘giving up the war' and ‘do not hold the strength of war' were the most meaningful system design and the system guarantee of the Pacifism,therefore it is also called ‘absolute pacifism' and ‘unarmed pacifism'.After the Second World War,profiting from the article 9 of the Constitution of Japan,Japan was re-accepted by the international community and started to step on the road of postwar revival and rapid economic development with ‘light armed,economic first' national development model,the total economy gross jumped to the second place in the world.Because of the Pacifism of the shadow for a long time in Japan,along with a high level of economic development,in the political formation of the trend away from the Constitution.On the pretext that the Constitution of Japan was an ‘imposed constitution',the article 9 of the Constitution made the national sovereignty incomplete,the regulations of the Constitution of Japan were not sufficient to guarantee the national security of Japan,and the article 9 did not adapt to the current international environment etc.The political forces for constitutional reform advocated to amend the article 9 of the Constitution of Japan,which has caused a wave of constitutional revision.After the war,there were two main methods for constitutional amendment.The first one was that express constitutional amendment was to initiate the ‘the right to amend the constitution' and to amend the article 9 of the constitution in accordance with the constitutional procedure.However,due to the strict restrictions of the constitutional amendment process,it was very difficult to amend constitution expressly without the support of a majority of Japanese nationals.The second one was the ‘explanation of constitutional amendment' which was a false proposition in the constitution,but it was the real constitutional state in the real politics of Japan.When the Japanese government could not achieve the goal of the express constitutional amendment,through the ‘explanation' for the article 9 of the constitution to prove that the right to self-defense,the existence of self-defense forces,the overseas dispatch of self-defense forces,the exercise of collective self-defense and so on,which did not violate the article 9 of the constitution,and then through legislation to overshadow the article 9 of the constitution.From the view of whole post-war history of constitutional amendment in Japan,the cross and transformation between ‘express constitutional amendment' and "explanation of constitutional amendment' revision" was deeply influenced by the changes of international environment and the strategic adjustment of Japan.During the cold war period,the United States demanded that Japan shouldered its own defense responsibilities and that the Japanese governments rearm under the international environment of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.The explanation of the article 9 of the constitution by the Japanese government under this requirement also ranged from the ‘denial of the right of self-defense' to the ‘non-denial of the right of self-defense' to the ‘minimum defense' and ‘exclusive defense' of the defense policy,A national strategy with ‘limited armament' to cater to the political of ‘economic-centered' in Japan.Although the political tributaries in Japan,Lchiro Hatoyama,Nobusuke Kishi from the constitutional amendment cabinet,tried to amend the constitution to rearm Japan,but the action was declared defeat in the opposition of the people of Japan.In the 1980 s,with the strengthening economic power,Japanese demand for a ‘political powers' became stronger and stronger.Nakasone Yasuhiro cabinet proposed that Japan should carry out a ‘post-war General Accounting in Japan' and adjust the national strategy of ‘economic-centered' to the ‘political powers'.Normalization of the military was the premise of political powers,while the article 9 of the constitution,which restricts the rearmament of Japan,was an obstacle to political powers.Nakasone Yasuhiro tried to change explicitly the article 9 of the Constitution of Japan,but failed to do so under the pressure from domestic opinion in Japan,breaking a 1 per cent limit on defense budgets.After the end of the cold war,the international situation changed greatly,in addition of China rising,Japan adjusted the national strategy ‘political powers' to ‘normal country' in order to reduce confrontation in the international community and re-evaluation of their own,but the ‘normal country' strategy,whose essence was to pursue political nationalization.‘Normalization of military' meant that ‘normal country' should have ‘right of war'.In order to achieve ‘military normalization',the Japanese government put the constitutional amendment on the political agenda to achieve the legitimacy of the dispatch of the self-defense force abroad,and to promote and formulate ‘the rule of law of affairs'.Since Shinzo Abe took power,has tried to start with the express constitutional amendment to prepare for amending the Constitution,enacted the National Voting Law,advocated to amend the article 96 of the Constitution,‘constitutional amendment procedure',made ‘softening' the amendment procedure;but also face many difficulties,the future of constitutional amendment in Japan had many variables.As to the trend of the constitutional amendment in Japan,from the point of view of the system of constitutional guarantee,there were both procedural guarantee and remedy guarantee-the system of constitutional review.The article 96 of the Constitution provides procedural guarantees for constitutional amendment,which is an insurmountable limitation and the most stringent formal guarantee.The unconstitutional review system was relief afterwards for the unconstitutional during the process of the implementation of the Constitution,and the absence of the review system in Japan had resulted in repeated cases of unconstitutionality.In order to ensure the Constitution reformed under the democratic principles,the constitutional amendment procedure should be strictly abided by and the unconstitutional review system should be improved.The substantive element that was decisive for the constitutional amendment in Japan,which was the attitude of the political parties and citizens to the constitutional amendment.Between the post-war and 2014,less than two thirds of the members of the House and Senate supported the constitutional amendment.Only the Senate of Representatives Election in 2014,more than two thirds of the members of the Senate,so-called ‘constitutional amendment force' supported the constitutional amendment.In 2016,‘constitutional amendment force' dominated more than two-thirds of the Senate.However,there was no consensus among the members of the so-called ‘constitutional amendment force' on the specific amendment to the article 9 of the Constitution,and the constitutional amendment process was therefore not initiated.Postwar,the mainstream public opinion in Japan went from defending the Constitution to discussing the Constitution.Although the proportion of the people who supported the constitutional amendment was higher than the people who supported the defending Constitution during a certain period,the mainstream public opinion in Japan opposed to amend the Constitution for a long time.If the constitutional amendment could be made under the democratic principle,the mainstream public opinion in Japan was the decisive factor of the trend of the future constitutional amendment,And in a generally peaceful international environment,the mainstream public opinion was the backbone of the peace constitution.A peaceful international environment was an important external condition for the survival of the article 9 of the Constitution of Japan.In today's international environment,there are regional conflicts from time to time and the threat of extremism and terrorism,while the North Korean nuclear issue in the East Asian region and the strategic deployment of the United States for Far East region have strained the geopolitical situation in the Far East;In particular the theory of the "North Korea threat" and the "China threat" are vigorously emphasized by Japanese government,which have an importqnt impact on the trend of constitutional amendment.The synchronization requirement of the United States to Japan and its ‘Asia-Pacific Strategy' and ‘Global Strategy' makes the action of the constitutional amendent in Japan have a remarkable feature of ‘adhereing the United States'.However,from the point of view of the National development strategy in Japan,it is a contradiction with the requirement of complete synchronization strategy of the United States.Therefore,the trend towards constitutional amendment in Japan shows the movement of Japan away from American political manipulation.