Prince of Peace

Perhaps appealing his readiness to succeed the throne, Prince Naruhito tried to show himself as a friendly and active figure in the Imperial family. In the press conference for his fifty-fifth birthday, Naruhito stressed his strong support for the Constitution of Japan, established on a great sacrifice of Japanese people. Although no news organization reported explicitly, he looked like criticize Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who had been showing no interest in maintaining current provisions of the Constitution.

Born in 1960, Naruhito lived his life in the most peaceful time of Japan with high economic growth. But, just fifteen years before he was born, his grandfather, Hirohito, had been a target of sharp argument over responsibility of Emperor on war, as the leader of Japanese government. Naruhito had to seriously uphold peace and democracy as basic concept of post-war Japan.

In his press conference, Naruhito stressed his willingness to embrace post-war political regime of Japan. “I think it is important to never forget about the lost ones, to impress the existence of current Japan on a number of sacrifices, to have deeper recognition on history not to repeat disastrous consequence of war, and to bring up peaceful mind,” told Naruhito. This might be Prince’s statement of seventieth anniversary from the end of the war, before Abe would release it.

What made different in Narihito’s comment was firm belief on the Constitution. “Through the disaster of the war, Japan has been accepting peace and prosperity, built on the basis of the Constitution of Japan. I hope this year of the seventieth anniversary from the end of the war to become an opportunity for remembering the efforts of the people who established the basis for development of Japan, engraving the preciousness of peace and refresh determination for peace,” told Naruhito. Most news agencies did not report his respect on the Constitution, supposedly being afraid of connecting his comment to power related to government that was not assumed to be exercised by the Prince.

His comment, however, apparently contradicted what current Prime Minister was doing. Prime Minister Abe has openly been discussing what and how to amend the provisions of the Constitution, not whether it should be amended. There even is an argument that his attitude violates Article 99 of the Constitution, which required Emperor, Prime Minister or other leaders of the government to protect and maintain the Constitution. Prince Naruhito’s firm support of the Constitution unexpectedly made clear contrast with the incumbent Prime Minister who disliked the supreme law of Japan.