Japan takes step towards revising constitution

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Japan takes step towards revising constitution
Mon May 14, 2007 12:52AM EDT

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a victory
in his drive to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution and ease its
limits on military actions overseas on Monday when parliament
enacted a law outlining steps for a referendum on revising the
post-World War Two charter.

Abe, at 52 Japan's first prime minister born after the war, has
made revising the 1947 constitution a key element in his efforts
to boost Japan's role in global security affairs, limited for
decades by the constitution's pacifist Article 9.

Drafted by U.S. occupation authorities during one frantic week
in February 1947, the constitution has never been altered and
procedures for a referendum had not been specified.

Under the referendum law, approved by parliament's upper
house on Monday, no vote on revising the constitution would
be held for at least three years, but its enactment will
increase momentum for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's
push to state clearly in the charter Japan's right to maintain
a military.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUST27556720070514

[Selatius]

1. They likely would've done this eventually anyway, with China increasing military spending

The fact that North Korea now has the bomb just added more momentum to adopt a more aggressive military stance.

[dave_p]

2. Bad news for Japan

The antiwar clause was imposed by others (understandably at the time) and Japan's done rather well out of it. Rather than seeing its demise, we should have seen more countries adopting it. This is hardly a time to be embracing foreign adventures or militarism. Both were a failure in 1941 and they're a failure in 2007.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. My gut tells me Japan is trying to wait out the clock

This has never been an issue except for White House occupants named bu$h, who have both been driving forces behind changing Japan's pacifist constitution. There certainly is no public outcry to revise the constitution among the general Japanese public, and I'm sure a lot of parents would abhor the thought that their sons (or daughters) could be forced to participate in some military adventure overseas, especially considering how it worked out the last time. You'll notice that the time frame for considering is 3 years, which is one year past the maximum time bu$h can spend in the White House. Once bu$h is out, this proposal will likely die a quiet and unmourned death.