Sixty Years of Perfect Integration

Liberal Democratic Party cerebrated its sixtieth anniversary on Sunday. The President, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, defined history of the party as effort for reconstruction. “We established our party for a cause. The cause has been reconstruction of Japan,” said Abe in his speech, stressing achievement in economic growth and security measures. LDP has actually been swinging between those two themes. Now, Abe looks to be on the side of security amid slow decline in his economic policy.

When Abe looks back Japanese history, the focusing area is not broad. “Although public opinion was always divided in two, our predecessors did not stagger on a difficult road and advanced with perfect integration,” said Abe on security issue. He must be remembering sharp opposition over revising Japan-United States Security Treaty, in which his grandfather was targeted by critical people.

Public opinion was not always divided, anyway. Interpretation of Constitution of Japan has always been determined that exercising collective self-defense right was unconstitutional. It was unshaken attitude of Japan that it would not use force for solving international conflict. It was Abe who destroyed the stability of constitutional interpretation. His contemplation of history is looking at a preferable part of many aspects.

Abe showed his determination to abolish systems that were built in occupied Japan. “They decided to revise various systems established in the time of occupation,” told Abe about the time of beginning of LDP. He raised three examples for revision: constitution, education and executive branch. It is obvious that constitutional amendment is the biggest target for Abe.

LDP assumes a two-step process for constitutional amendment. The first is changing the provisions that is not difficult for the people. The themes include establishing environmental right, adding emergency clause to vest greater power on national government or restricting excessive financial debt for future generations.

After Japanese people are accustomed to constitutional amendment, LDP hopes to change core provisions. If LDP amendment is applied, Japanese Emperor will be the head of state, Self-defense Force will be National Defense Force,  and individual rights will be protected only when they do not oppose “public order.”

According to the poll by Asahi Shimbun, 57% of LDP members think that constitutional amendment is not an urgent issue. 43% of the members answered that Article 9 should not be changed, overtaking 37% of supporters for new Article 9. As long as Japan’s prosperity is based on peace, amendment of Article 9 is not an easy to achieve.