Table Of ContentThe Quest for Japan’s New
Constitution
This book examines the many attempts over the last three decades to revise
Japan’s constitution. As the book shows, these attempts at revision have been
relatively conservative, aiming to embed in the constitution visions of a different
future for Japan.
Specific reforms advocated include: enabling Japan to have a more proactive
foreign policy, more independent of the US-Japan alliance; strengthening the role
of the Emperor, and excluding female succession to the throne; and emphasising
more citizens’ duties, rather than their rights, in order to strengthen community
and societal cohesion.
By far the most comprehensive analysis of Constitutional reform debate in
Japan to be published to date, it offers translations and analysis of more than two
dozen amendment proposals. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the
details of the reform proposals, charts the so far unsuccessful attempts to bring
about the reforms, discusses the different groups arguing for reform, and assesses
the nature of the proposed reforms. It categorises different versions of the vision
for Japan’s future and shows that only a few campaigners are advocating anything
like a return to Japan’s pre-war constitution.
Christian G. Winkler is currently Visiting Researcher in the Faculty of Policy
Studies, Chuo University, Japan.
Routledge Contemporary Japan Series
1 A Japanese Company in Crisis 9 Adoption in Japan
Ideology, strategy, and narrative Comparing policies for children in
Fiona Graham need
Peter Hayes and Toshie Habu
2 Japan’s Foreign Aid
Old continuities and new directions 10 The Ethics of Aesthetics in
Edited by David Arase Japanese Cinema and
Literature
3 Japanese Apologies for World Polygraphic Desire
War II Nina Cornyetz
A rhetorical study
Jane W. Yamazaki 11 Institutional and Technological
Change in Japan’s Economy
4 Linguistic Stereotyping and Past and present
Minority Groups in Japan Edited by Janet Hunter and
Nanette Gottlieb Cornelia Storz
5 Shinkansen 12 Political Reform in Japan
From bullet train to symbol of Leadership looming large
modern Japan Alisa Gaunder
Christopher P. Hood
13 Civil Society and the Internet in
6 Small Firms and Innovation Japan
Policy in Japan Isa Ducke
Edited by Cornelia Storz
14 Japan’s Contested War
7 Cities, Autonomy and Memories
Decentralization in Japan The ‘memory rifts’ in historical
Edited by Carola Hein and consciousness of World War II
Philippe Pelletier Philip A. Seaton
8 The Changing Japanese Family 15 Japanese Love Hotels
Edited by Marcus Rebick and A cultural history
Ayumi Takenaka Sarah Chaplin
16 Population Decline and 26 Marriage in Contemporary
Ageing in Japan – The Social Japan
Consequences Yoko Tokuhiro
Florian Coulmas
27 Japanese Aid and the
17 Zainichi Korean Identity and Construction of Global
Ethnicity Development
David Chapman Inescapable solutions
Edited by David Leheny and Carol
18 A Japanese Joint Venture in Warren
the Pacific
Foreign bodies in tinned tuna 28 The Rise of Japanese NGOs
Kate Barclay Activism from above
Kim D. Reimann
19 Japanese-Russian Relations,
1907–2007 29 Postwar History Education in
Joseph P. Ferguson Japan and the Germanys
Guilty lessons
20 War Memory, Nationalism and Julian Dierkes
Education in Post-War Japan,
1945–2007 30 Japan-Bashing
The Japanese history textbook Anti-Japanism since the 1980s
controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Narelle Morris
court challenges
Yoshiko Nozaki 31 Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War
The Yakeato generation
21 A New Japan for the Twenty- Edited by Roman Rosenbaum and
First Century Yasuko Claremont
An inside overview of current
fundamental changes and problems 32 Challenges of Human Resource
Edited by Rien T. Segers Management in Japan
Edited by Ralf Bebenroth and
22 A Life Adrift Toshihiro Kanai
Soeda azembo, popular song and
modern mass culture in Japan 33 Translation in Modern Japan
Translated by Michael Lewis Edited by Indra Levy
23 The Novels of Oe Kenzaburo 34 Language Life in Japan
Yasuko Claremont Transformations and prospects
Edited by Patrick Heinrich and
24 Perversion in Modern Japan Christian Galan
Psychoanalysis, literature, culture
Edited by Nina Cornyetz and 35 The Quest for Japan’s New
J. Keith Vincent Constitution
An analysis of visions and
25 Homosexuality and Manliness in Constitutional reform proposals
Postwar Japan 1980–2009
Jonathan D. Mackintosh Christian G. Winkler
The Quest for Japan’s New
Constitution
An analysis of visions and Constitutional
reform proposals 1980–2009
Christian G. Winkler
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2011 Christian G. Winkler
Typeset in Times New Roman by
Bookcraft Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Winkler, Christian G.
The quest for Japan’s new constitution : an analysis of visions and
Constitutional reform proposals, 1980-2009 / Christian G. Winkler.
p. cm.
“Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Constitutional law--Japan. 2. Constitutional history--Japan.
3. Law reform--Japan. I. Title.
KNX2070.W56 2011 342.5202’9--dc22
2010016911
ISBN: 978-0-415-59396-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84067-2 (ebk)
Contents
List of figures and tables ix
Acknowledgements x
List of abbreviations xi
Introduction xiii
1 Conservatism: theory and reality in postwar Japan 1
1.1 Conservatism: An attempt at a definition 1
1.2 1945–1960: An age of attempted (partial) restoration 6
1.3 1960–2000: The era of the conservative mainstream:
living with the new system 8
1.4 2000–2010: The end of conservatism? 17
1.5 Conclusion 23
2 Framing the issues: conservative criticism of postwar Japan
and the vision of a new Japan 24
2.1 The Emperor system: a vision between genuine and
invented traditions 24
2.2 Four visions for a new national security policy 36
2.3 Curing moral illnesses, aiming for a dignified nation 49
3 In quest of Constitutional reform: introducing the drafts written
between 1980 and 2009 61
3.1 Overview and clarification 61
3.2 The Drafts I (1980–1989) 62
3.3 The Drafts II (1990–1999) 66
3.4 The Drafts III (2000–2009) 94
viii Contents
4 Key issues of Constitutional reform and their meaning to the
conservative movement 134
4.1 The preamble: towards a balance between universalism and
traditionalism 134
4.2 Maintaining the postwar Tennō system between genuine and
invented traditions 138
4.3 Article 9: towards a more proactive national security policy 147
4.4 Rights and duties: towards a dignified nation? 156
4.5 Macro-level analysis: the reflection of a conservative
vision 171
4.6 A link to the past: a comparison to the Constitutional reform
debate prior to 1980 180
Epilogue 191
Notes 195
References 200
Index 211
List of Figures and Table
Figures
4.1 Revising the preamble 137
4.2 Positions on Emperor system: overview 145
4.3 Specific revision proposals: an overview 173
4.4 Placing the Constitutional reform proposals 176
4.5 Placing the Constitutional reform proposals 1950–65 188
Table
2.1 List of female Tennō 30
Acknowledgements
I first encountered Constitutional reform as an interesting, albeit little researched
subject as an exchange student at the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo in 2004.
Since then it has become the focus of my research as a master student and later
as a PhD candidate in Japanese Studies. The results of half a decade of working
with the topic are presented in this book which is based on my doctoral disser-
tation Japan’s Conservatives and their Quest for Constitutional Reform which I
submitted to Munich University in March 2009. This volume is a significantly
revised and amended version of the dissertation. Specifically, the book newly
features a comparison between the most recent reform initiatives and their earlier
counterparts, as well as the inclusion of the most recent Constitutional reform
draft. In order to present the results in a more coherent and structured way, I have
re-written large portions of the original manuscript. It is hoped that this book will
be a valuable contribution to a little researched, albeit obviously important topic
that for better or worse faded from the spotlight in 2007.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Japanese Ministry of Education
and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) without whose financial
support, the completion of this research would have been impossible. Moreover,
I should like to thank Keio University for providing me with an affiliation during
my two year-stint in Japan. My supervisor Professor Klaus Vollmer (University
of Munich) deserves special thanks for patiently offering valuable advice when it
was needed. Furthermore, I’m indebted to Uno Shigeki (University of Tokyo) as
well as Juha Saunavaara (University of Oulu) and Kimiko Ozawa (University of
Wisconsin-Madison) for their fruitful criticism and thoughtful comments. Peter
Sowden deserves praise for being an extraordinary editor. Finally, the support
of my mother Gerdi Winkler to whom this book is dedicated, has been most
important.
For this book the Hepburn transcription was utilized to transcribe Japanese
terms into Roman letters. Japanese names are given in their proper order, i.e.
with the surname first and the given name second. Translations are my own, if not
otherwise noted.
Munich, February 2010
