Japan Altering Constitution Including Pacifisim

[Annie]

I think this change naturally follows Iraq involvement and what is going on in the Pacific:


http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/15/news/japan.html

TOKYO A Japanese parliamentary committee voted Friday to issue a landmark report that urges revisions to the Constitution, including changes to its pacifist provisions.
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The report said the Constitution, imposed by the United States in 1947 and unchanged since, had many "gaps" with the modern age. The committee, composed of 50 members of the House of Representatives, who deliberated for five years, called for a national referendum on constitutional change.
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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has already backed revisions.
.
The Constitution bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits maintaining armed forces for warfare. The Japanese government has interpreted that to mean it can maintain troops for self-defense, and its forces are among the most modern and best equipped in the world.
.
Any move away from constitutional pacifism, however, is likely to upset nearby countries like China and South Korea, which were invaded by Japan in the 20th century. There were huge protests in China this month after Japan approved a textbook that plays down Japanese atrocities in Asia.
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The parliamentary report, to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Parliament's lower house, was largely intended to produce a discussion of important principles in the Constitution and does not mean an immediate revision.
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The House of Councilors, Parliament's upper house, is working on a similar report, and a committee of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to announce an outline of a draft revision as early as next month.
.
Public support for amending the Constitution has swelled as Japan has raised its international military and diplomatic profile. Recent newspaper polls showed about half the country supported changing the pacifist provisions.
.
Japan dispatched noncombat troops to Iraq last year in its first deployment to a combat zone since 1945, and it is relaxing its ban on arms exports to ease joint construction of a missile defense program with the United States.
.
"The proposal by the panel wraps up our work," said its chairman, Taro Nakayama, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party. "We believe the report marks a new phase in the discussions of our country's Constitution."
.
The 700-page report said the majority of panel members supported keeping the Article 9, which renounces war but emphasized the need to spell out the role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the Kyodo News agency reported. They also agreed to specify the definition of defense emergencies and a framework for regional security in Asia.
.
Panel members also said the Constitution's preamble should be rewritten to reflect Japan's history, traditions and culture. They supported the constitutional principles of popular sovereignty, peace and basic human rights.
.
Any revision of the Constitution would require a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Parliament and support of a majority of Japanese voters in a referendum.
.
Separately, the panel called for changes to an imperial law from 1948, not part of the Constitution, to let a woman ascend to the throne.
.
No boy has been born to the royal family since 1965. Crown Princess Masako, who has one daughter, is under intense pressure to produce a male heir and has avoided almost all public events since December 2003 because of stress.
.
"The majority of opinions expressed on the matter supported female succession of the throne, although some members expressed caution over the issue," the report said.
.
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See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
.
< < Back to Start of Article TOKYO A Japanese parliamentary committee voted Friday to issue a landmark report that urges revisions to the Constitution, including changes to its pacifist provisions.
.
The report said the Constitution, imposed by the United States in 1947 and unchanged since, had many "gaps" with the modern age. The committee, composed of 50 members of the House of Representatives, who deliberated for five years, called for a national referendum on constitutional change.
.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has already backed revisions.
.
The Constitution bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits maintaining armed forces for warfare. The Japanese government has interpreted that to mean it can maintain troops for self-defense, and its forces are among the most modern and best equipped in the world.
.
Any move away from constitutional pacifism, however, is likely to upset nearby countries like China and South Korea, which were invaded by Japan in the 20th century. There were huge protests in China this month after Japan approved a textbook that plays down Japanese atrocities in Asia.
.
The parliamentary report, to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Parliament's lower house, was largely intended to produce a discussion of important principles in the Constitution and does not mean an immediate revision.
.
The House of Councilors, Parliament's upper house, is working on a similar report, and a committee of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to announce an outline of a draft revision as early as next month.
.
Public support for amending the Constitution has swelled as Japan has raised its international military and diplomatic profile. Recent newspaper polls showed about half the country supported changing the pacifist provisions.
.
Japan dispatched noncombat troops to Iraq last year in its first deployment to a combat zone since 1945, and it is relaxing its ban on arms exports to ease joint construction of a missile defense program with the United States.
.
"The proposal by the panel wraps up our work," said its chairman, Taro Nakayama, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party. "We believe the report marks a new phase in the discussions of our country's Constitution."
.
The 700-page report said the majority of panel members supported keeping the Article 9, which renounces war but emphasized the need to spell out the role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the Kyodo News agency reported. They also agreed to specify the definition of defense emergencies and a framework for regional security in Asia.
.
Panel members also said the Constitution's preamble should be rewritten to reflect Japan's history, traditions and culture. They supported the constitutional principles of popular sovereignty, peace and basic human rights.
.
Any revision of the Constitution would require a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Parliament and support of a majority of Japanese voters in a referendum.
.
Separately, the panel called for changes to an imperial law from 1948, not part of the Constitution, to let a woman ascend to the throne.
.
No boy has been born to the royal family since 1965. Crown Princess Masako, who has one daughter, is under intense pressure to produce a male heir and has avoided almost all public events since December 2003 because of stress.
.
"The majority of opinions expressed on the matter supported female succession of the throne, although some members expressed caution over the issue," the report said.
.
.
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
.
< < Back to Start of Article TOKYO A Japanese parliamentary committee voted Friday to issue a landmark report that urges revisions to the Constitution, including changes to its pacifist provisions.
.
The report said the Constitution, imposed by the United States in 1947 and unchanged since, had many "gaps" with the modern age. The committee, composed of 50 members of the House of Representatives, who deliberated for five years, called for a national referendum on constitutional change.
.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has already backed revisions.
.
The Constitution bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits maintaining armed forces for warfare. The Japanese government has interpreted that to mean it can maintain troops for self-defense, and its forces are among the most modern and best equipped in the world...

 

[Annie]

or spiral out of control?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050417/ap_on_re_as/china_japan

China Rejects Japan's Demand for Apology

15 minutes ago World - AP Asia


By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - China's foreign minister on Sunday rejected Tokyo's demand for an apology for damage to Japanese diplomatic missions in violent protests, telling his Japanese counterpart that Beijing had done nothing for which it had to apologize to Japan's people.


AP Photo


AP Photo
Slideshow: China and Japan Relations




Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing instead told his Japanescomplained that Japan has "hurt the feelings" of Chinese on a series of issues, including relations with rival Taiwan and "the subject of history" — a reference to new Japanese textbooks that critics say minimize Japan's wartime offenses.


"The Chinese government has never done anything for which it has to apologize to the Japanese people," Li told Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.


Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura arrived Sunday in Beijing to deliver a protest following three weekends of violent anti-Japanese protests.


On Sunday, police in Shanghai let 20,000 rioters break windows at Japan's Consulate, vandalize restaurants and damage cars. Thousands more protested in other Chinese cities.


Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted Machimura as saying before his departure that he would tell Beijing that, "It's possible that Japan-China relations as a whole, including on the economic front, could decline to a serious state."


A dozen police officers stood guard in the arrivals area of the Beijing airport as Machimura's flight arrived from Tokyo, but there was no sign of protesters.


In the meeting with Li at Beijing's state guesthouse, Machimura said he had been "extremely concerned over the violence toward embassy activities and also toward Japanese people in China."


"I wish the Chinese government would sincerely handle this matter under international regulations," he said. "I hope this meeting would become a venue to discuss various issues including how to improve the situation in a friendly manner."


Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have plunged to their lowest point in decades prompted by disputes over the Security Council, natural gas resources in disputed seas and new Japanese textbooks that critics say minimize Japan's wartime offenses.