Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:32:02.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Back to the Past: Analysis of the Amendments Regarding Emperor and the National Symbols in the LDP 2012 Constitutional Draft

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2017

MACIEJ PLETNIA*
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian [email protected]

Abstract

Since the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's (LDP) return to power in late 2012, there has been on-going discussions regarding the possibility of revising the Japanese constitution. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has made numerous remarks regarding his intention to implement significant changes. Understandably, amendments to the controversial Article 9 as well as to the Article 96 have become the main points of interests for both journalists and scholars. Judging by the LDP's constitutional draft from 2012 there are other significant changes that the ruling party would like to implement. This article mainly analyses the proposed amendments regarding the position and significance of the emperor, national flag, and anthem, as well as separation of the state and religion. Based on textual analysis of the draft and analysis of the remarks made by Abe Shinzō regarding changing the constitution, this paper argues that, if implemented, the proposed changes would symbolically link contemporary Japan with its pre-1945 past. Furthermore, both the LDP's constitutional draft and leading politicians’ comments regarding the necessity of those amendments fit into a much broader narrative regarding Japan's historical past, and signify another attempt to reconstruct collective memory of both the Pacific War and occupation years.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abe, Shinzō (2007), ‘Abenaikaku me-ru magajin’, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/m-magazine/backnumber/2007/0517.html [accessed 31 July 2014].Google Scholar
Abe, S. (2009), ‘Kihonseisaku: kenpōkaisei’, http://www.s-abe.or.jp/policy/consutitution_policy [accessed 21 August 2014].Google Scholar
Adem, S. (2011), ‘Conflict Prevention in Japan’, in Chatterji, M., Gopal, D., and Sigh, S. (eds.), Governance, Development and Conflict, Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 263–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ando, T. (2014), Japan's New Left Movements: Legacies for Civil Society, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012), ‘Kenpōkaisei, sanpi wareru shōhi zōzei, tayōnaiken sōsenkyo’, Asahi Shimbun, 6 December 2012.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2013), ‘Asahi, Tōdai Taniguchi kenkyūshitsu kyōdō chōsa kenpō kaisei sansei tabinisa giin 89%, yūkensha 50%’, Asahi Shimbun, 28 January 2013.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2013), ‘Shushō [shiryaku teigi sadamattenai] Murayama danwa [aimai]’, Asahi Shimbun, 23 April 2013.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2013), ‘Gunjin 250 bannin matsuru/shushō sanpai [iken] Yasukuni jinja toha’, Asahi Shimbun, 27 December 2013.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2014), ‘Shūdanteki jieiken, kōshi yōnin hantai 63% ni zō [Asahi Shimbun Chōsa]’, http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASG3L72L6G3LUZPS007.html [accessed 13 May 2015].Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2015), ‘Kenpō kaisei fuyō 48%, hitsuyō 43%’ [Asahi Shimbunsha yoron chōsa], http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH4H4KBCH4HUZPS003.html [accessed 14 May 2015].Google Scholar
Assmann, J. and Czaplicka, J. (1995), Collective Memory and Cultural Identity’, New German Critique, 65: 125–33.Google Scholar
Aspinall, R. W. (2001), Teachers’ Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan, New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Berkofsky, A. (2012), A Pacifist Constitution for an Armed Empire: Past and Present of Japanese Security and Defence Policies, Milano: FrancoAngeli s.r.l.Google Scholar
Bix, H. P. (2001), Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, New York: Parennial.Google Scholar
Bowem, R. W. (2003), Japan's Dysfunctional Democracy: The Liberal Democratic Party and Structural Corruption, New York: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Buruma, Ian (1994), The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and in Japan, London: Vintage.Google Scholar
Breen, J. and Teeuwen, M. (2000), Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Cooney, K. (2007), Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945, New York: M. E.Sharpe.Google Scholar
Doty, W. C. (2000), Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
E-Gov (1999), ‘Kokki oyobi kokka ni kansuru hōritsu’, http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/H11/H11HO127.html [accessed 11 August 2014].Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman (2003), Analyzing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Finn, R. B. (1992), Winners in Peace: MacArthur, Yoshida and Postwar Japan, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1980) ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’, in Bouchard, D. F. (ed.), Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Select Essays and Interviews with Michel Foucault, Ithaca: Cornell University, pp. 139–64.Google Scholar
Fukushima, A. (2011), ‘The Merits of Alliance: A Japanese Perspective – Logic Underpins Japan's Global and Regional Security Role’, in Inoguchi, T., Ikenberry, G. J., and Sato, Y. (eds.), The US–Japan Security Alliance: Regional Multilateralism, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 5373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafsson, K. (2015), ‘Japanese Identity in a Globalized World: “Anit-Japanism” and Discursive Struggle’, in Sugita, Y. (ed.), Japan Viewed from Interdisciplinary Perspectives: History and Prospects, London: Lexington Books, pp. 4158.Google Scholar
Haffner, J., Klent, T. C., and, J.-P. Lehmann (2009), Japan's Open Future: An Agenda for Global Citizenships, New York: Anthem Press.Google Scholar
Hampton, M. N. and Peifer, D.C. (2000), ‘Reordering German Identity: Memory Sites and Foreign Policy’, German Studies Review, 3 (30): 371–90.Google Scholar
Hardacre, H. (1991), Shintō and the State 1868–1988, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Henry, N. (2011), War and Rape: Law, Memory and Justice, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
House of Representatives (2007), ‘U.S., res. 121’, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hres121/text [accessed 31 July 2014].Google Scholar
Hook, G. D, Gilson, J., Hughes, C. W., and Dobson, H. (2005), Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economy and Security, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Howarth, D. (2015), Ernesto Laclau: Post-Marxism, Populism and Critique, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hughes, C. W. (2010), ‘Japan's Policy towards China: Domestic Structural Change, Globalization, History and Nationalism’, in Dent, C. M. (ed.), China, Japan and Regional Leadership in East Asia, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 3751.Google Scholar
Inoue, K. (1991), McArthurs’ Japanese Constitution: A Linguistic and Cultural Study of Its Making, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Itoh, M. (2015), ‘The New Komei Party: Japan's Buddhist Party and LDP's Coalition Partner’, in R. Hrebenar, J. and Nakamura, A. (eds.), Party Politics in Japan. Political Chaos and Stalemate in the Twenty-First Century, New York: Routledge, pp. 148–73.Google Scholar
Jager, S. M. and Mitter, R. (2007), Ruptured Histories: War, Memory and the Post-Cold War in Asia, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jimintō (2012a), ‘Kenpōkaiseisakuan’, https://www.jimin.jp/policy/policy_topics/pdf/seisaku-109.pdf [accessed 1 August 2014].Google Scholar
Jimintō (2012b), ‘Kenpōkaiseisakuan Q&A zōhohan’, https://www.jimin.jp/policy/pamphlet/pdf/kenpou_qa.pdf [accessed 1 August 2014].Google Scholar
Jorgensen, M. and Phillips, L. (2002), Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method, London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Katz, R. and Ennis, P. (2007), ‘How Able is Abe? A Softer Touch for Japan’, Foreign Affairs, 2 (86): 7591.Google Scholar
Kloskowska, A. (2005), Kultury narodowe u korzeni, Warszawa: PWN.Google Scholar
Kōichi, K. (1988), ‘Politics in Modern Japan: Development and Organization’, Japan Echo, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Korporowicz, Leszek (2012), ‘Tożsamości kulturowe u korzeni’, in Hałas, Ewa (ed.), Kultura jako pamięć: Posttradycjonalne znaczenie przeszłości, Kraków: Nomos, pp. 177201.Google Scholar
Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (2001), Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, London: Verso.Google Scholar
LaFeber, Walter (1998), The clash: U.S.-Japan relations through history, New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Lu, D. J. (1997), Japan: A Documented History – The Late Tokugawa Period to the Present, New York: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Matsui, S. (2011), The Constitution of Japan: A Contextual Analysis, Oxford: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Mainichi Shimbun (2013), ‘Kenpōkaisei: kokumintōhyō [18 sai] kakutei e jimin kentō kaisei kenan ni sakidachi’, Mainichi Shimbun, 5 March 2013.Google Scholar
Mainichi, Shimbun (2014), ‘Honsha yoron chō.sa: 9 jō. kaisei, hantai 51%. . . zennenhi 14 pointo’, http://mainichi.jp/graph/2014/05/03/20140503k0000m010085000c/001.html, [accessed 31 July 2014].Google Scholar
Mainichi Shimbun (2013), ‘Abe shō: [saninsengo kaiken seiryoku kesshū] 96 jō kaisei e yobikake’, Mainichi Shimbun, 2 May 2013.Google Scholar
Mainichi Shimbun (2013), ‘Kenpōkaisei: shushō, 96 jō senkō ni iyoku [mazuha kokumintōhyō hō]’, Mainichi Shimbun, 22 July 2013.Google Scholar
Mainichi Shimbun (2015), ‘Honsha yoron chōsa: 9 jō kaisei, hantai 55%. . .sakunen yori zō’, http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20150504k0000m010056000c.html [accessed 13 May 2015].Google Scholar
Margolin, J.-L. (2009), Japonia 1937–1945: Wojna Armii Cesarza, Warszawa: Dialog.Google Scholar
National Diet Library, ‘The Birth of the Constitution’, http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/ [accessed 5 August 2014].Google Scholar
NHK Hōsō bunka kenkyū sho (2007), ‘Kenpōkansei rongi to kokumin no ishiki’, http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/research/report/2007_12/071205.pdf [accessed 31 July 2014].Google Scholar
Nora, P. (1989), ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire’, Representations, 26: 724.Google Scholar
O'Brian, D. M. and Ohkoshi, Y. (1996), To Dream of Dreams: Religious Freedom and Constitutional Politics in Postwar, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Okudaira, Y. (1990), ‘Forty Years of the Constitution and Its Various Influences: Japanese, American, and European’, Law and Contemporary Problems, 53: 1749.Google Scholar
Olick, J. K. (1999), ‘Collective Memory: The Two Cultures’, Sociological Theory, 3 (17): 333–48.Google Scholar
Oros, A. L. (2008), Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity, and the Evolution of Security Practice, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Orr, J. J. (2001), The Victim as Hero. Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Osiel, M.(2011), ‘From Mass Atrocity to Collective Memory, and the Law’, in Olick, J. K., Vinitzky-Seroussi, V., and Levy, D. (eds.), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 468–70.Google Scholar
Park, C. H. (2011), ‘Conservative Conceptions of Japan as a “Normal Country”: Comparing Ozawa, Nakasone, and Ishihara’, in Soeya, Y., Tadokoro, M., Welch, D. A. (eds.), Japan as a ‘Normal Country’? A Nations in Search of its Place in the World, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet (2016), Official Website, ‘The Constitution of Japan’, http://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html [accessed 7 April 2016].Google Scholar
Reilly, J. (2012), Strong Society, Smart State: The Rise of Public Opinion in China's Japan Policy, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Ricoeur, P. (2007), Pamięć, historia, zapomnienie, Kraków: Universitas.Google Scholar
Rose, C. (2008), ‘Stalemate: The Yasukuni shrine problem in Sino-Japanese relations’, in Breen, J. (ed.), Yasukuni: The War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 2346.Google Scholar
Sankei Shimbun (2013), ‘Shukenkaifuku shikiten, Abe shushō ga shikiji ni kometa tennnō heika no’, http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/news/130503/plc13050318010011-n1.htm [accessed 20 August 2014].Google Scholar
Sankei Shimbun (2015), ‘Anpo hōan hantai demo, hontō no sankashasū wo honsha ga shisan’, http://www.sankei.com/politics/news/150831/plt1508310051-n1.html [accessed 15 December 2015].Google Scholar
Seraphim, F. (2006), War Memory and Social Politics in Japan 1945–2005, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.Google Scholar
Sheppele, K. L. (2009), ‘Constitutional Interpretation after Regimes of Horror’, in Karstedt, S. (ed.), Legal Institutions and Collective Memory, Portland: Hart Publishing, pp. 233–58.Google Scholar
Smolicz, J. (1999), J.J. Smolicz on Education and Culture, Albert Park: James Nicolas Publishers.Google Scholar
Szacka, B. (2006), Czas przeszły, pamięć, mit, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.Google Scholar
Szacka, B. (2005), ‘Pamięć zbiorowa’, in Szpociński, A. (ed.), Wobec przeszłości – pamięć przeszłości jako element kultury współczesnej, Warszawa: Instytut im. Adama Mickiewicza pp. 1730.Google Scholar
The Japan Times (2015), ‘Thousands protest Abe, security bills at Diet rally’, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/30/national/thousands-protest-abe-security-bills-diet-rally/ [accessed 24 April 2016].Google Scholar
Ward, R. E. (1956), ‘The Constitution and Current Japanese Policitcs’, Far Eastern Survey, 25 (4): 4958.Google Scholar
Williams, J. (1965), ‘Making the Japanese Consitution: A Further Look’, The American Political Science Review, 59 (3): 665–79.Google Scholar
Williamson, P. R. (2014), Risk and Securitization in Japan: 1945–1960, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Winkler, C. G. (2011), The Quest for Japan's New Constitution: An Analysis of Visions and Constitutional Reform Proposals 1980–2009, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (2009), Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Wolfe, S. (2014), The Politics of Repatriations and Apologies, New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshino, Kosaku (2005), Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan: A Sociological Enquiry, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Zerubavel, Y. (2011), ‘From Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition’, in Olick, J. K., Vinitzky-Seroussi, V., and Levy, D. (eds.), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 237–41.Google Scholar