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Constitutional Amendment is Out of the Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Miyazaki Hayao  and
Asato Ikeda
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This transcription of an interview with famed animated film director Miyazaki Hayao was originally published by Studio Ghibli in their monthly magazine Neppu, in a special issue on Constitutional amendment. With a casual, conversational tone, Miyazaki covers a wide range of topics: he recalls his and his father's wartime experience, speaks about his changing relationship with Japan, and gives insight into the Self-Defense Forces and postwar Japan's politics and economy. Throughout, he presents a strong criticism of the current Abe government, especially their proposal of Constitutional Amendment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 36 , September 2014 , e1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014

References

Notes

1. Except for the translator (who is primarily active in North America), Japanese names are written in the traditional order: the last name first and then the first name.

2. Neppu editor's note: The Constitution was drafted in 1946.

3. Neppu editor's note: Westall was born in 1929.

4. Translator's note: Miyazaki specifically talks about a Russian song called “Огонёк” (“Little flame” in Russian and “Sokoku no tomoshibi no tame ni tatakawan” in Japanese).

5. Translator's note: Article 96 specifies the process for amending the Constitution. “Amendments to this Constitution shall be initiated by the Diet, through a concurring vote of two-thirds or more of all the members of each House and shall thereupon be submitted to the people for ratification, which shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of all votes cast thereon, at a special referendum or at such election as the Diet shall specify.”

6. Translator's note: though Miyazaki does not name the person, he is talking about Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. In 1995, Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi, on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific War, issued an apology for the suffering and damage caused to Japan's Asian neighbors.

7. Translator's note: Article Nine the so-called “peace clause” of the Constitution, states that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”