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July 08, 2026
 

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CONSTITUTION

EDITORIALS
May 2, 2014
Protecting the peace Constitution
As a majority of polled Japanese oppose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to overturn the government’s traditional interpretation of a constitutional principle that has enabled Japan to enjoy nearly 70 years of peace and prosperity, he should focus on improving ties with Japan’s closest neighbors.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 22, 2014
Anti-Abe forces emerging
Little was heard from Yasuo Fukuda, nor was much said about him, after he stepped down as prime minister in 2008. In recent months, though, he has been sought out by some LDP leaders to help repair the damage to relations with South Korea and China, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s style of diplomacy is said to have caused.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Apr 16, 2014
Hague jars with Japan’s family law, a zero-sum game with only one outcome
A Japanese lawyer told me: ‘To Westerners, marriage means 1+1=2. But in Japan it equals 1.’ This made perfect sense to me, but perhaps I should explain.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2014
Avoid setting dangerous precedent
The Abe administration is trying to kill — by a mere Cabinet decision alone — a constitutional interpretation barring collective self-defense that has been backed by Diet debates for decades.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 12, 2014
Weapons for peace and proactive pacifism
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has relaxed curbs on arms exports and sees great market potential in Asia. In the Pacific Century, Asia’s impressive economic growth is funding expanding defense budgets, making the region the most lucrative global arms market. Alas, it is also a region of significant flash...
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2014
Avoid voting age disparity
The question of whether the minimum voting age for participating in Japan’s referendums should be lower than the voting age for other elections remains unsettled.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2014
Bill to lower referendum voting age submitted to Lower House
The ruling and opposition parties submit a bill to the Lower House to lower the age from which people can vote in a referendum to 18.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2014
Japan’s image hurt by Abe’s militarist facade: Nye
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nationalistic views on history are hurting Japan’s chances in an increasingly public PR battle with China and South Korea, a Harvard professor says.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2014
Abe ready for full-on military drive
With the launch next Monday of a special intraparty panel directly under his lead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are ready to kick off their full-fledged drive to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to help defend its allies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 26, 2014
Japan’s Constitution: never amended but all too often undermined
If Japan’s unwritten constitution is already so flexible, why are Abe and his party so bent on amending the written one?
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 25, 2014
Will Constitution survive Abe?
Conservative hawks who are close allies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe express irritation over the failure of the move to amend the Constitution to have gained as much momentum as they had hoped.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2014
China, eyeing Japan, seeks WWII focus for Xi during Germany visit
China wants to make World War II a key part of a trip by President Xi Jinping to Germany next month, much to Berlin’s discomfort, diplomatic sources said, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to embarrass Japan.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2014
Abe guts constitutional government
People should realize that Japan’s prime minister has a shallow understanding of constitutional government. Shinzo Abe thinks he is the ‘highest responsible person’ for interpreting Japan’s right to a collective self-defense, and that’s dangerous.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2014
Cabinet will decide defense role: Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that Cabinet approval is enough to change the government’s interpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 and allow Japan to help defend allied nations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2014
Abe exploiting window for biggest defense change since war
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pressed by China and seeking to strengthen ties with the U.S., is considering Japan’s biggest change in military engagement rules since World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2014
Amendment not needed for collective defense: Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterates his administration’s position that the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution on its own gives Japan the right to collective self-defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2014
Playing with fire is dangerous
Any moves that Japanese leaders make at this time to start the process of amending the Constitution would arouse strong feelings in Japan and abroad, against the nation’s interests.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2014
Economy to be Abe’s Diet focus, at least at first
This year’s 150-day regular Diet session will open Friday with a key policy speech by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expected to play to his strength — the economy — rather than his controversial diplomatic or national security policies.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2014
Japan heading for darker days
It’s still baffling why the Abe administration was in such a hurry to have the state secrets bill passed when various opinion surveys showed that the bill was opposed by about 80 percnet of respondens on the very day the Upper House voted on it.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 15, 2014
Three cases, three paths to legitimacy for Supreme Court
When I began studying Japanese, one of my goals was to be able to read the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s version of The Wall Street Journal. Achieving that goal, however, meant realizing that it is possibly The Most Boring Newspaper on Earth.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Prior to launch, Japan ‘strongly urged’ China to reconsider missile test in Pacific
A missile is fired from a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine on Monday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Japan might be giving the currency market the silent treatment
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has issued verbal warnings recently using the same language and the same tone, saying authorities “will take appropriate action at any time, as necessary.”
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.

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