Soka Gakkai expert casts light on Buddhist group's struggles since enactment of 2015 security laws
Canadian scholar Levi McLaughlin remembers the intensive Sunday rehearsals he had in the early 2000s with a men's orchestra run in Tokyo by the lay-Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. Because Soka Gakkai's charismatic leader Daisaku Ikeda is a Beethoven aficionado, the orchestra mainly played Beethoven symphonies. ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday urged members of his Liberal Democratic Party intensify their efforts in the new year to bring amendments to Japan's pacifist Constitution, calling the country's supreme law a product of its postwar occupation. Touching on the history of his party, ...
2018 seen as make-or-break year for Abe's constitutional revision quest
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces what is perhaps the biggest dilemma of his political career: whether to call the nation’s first-ever referendum on revising the postwar Constitution.
Government discussions on amending the Constitution should not be driven by time frames or political considerations.
Abe, energized five years after comeback, poised for historic third term as Japan's leader
Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return to power, making him one of the nation’s longest-serving leaders.
Potential defense shift may see Japan arm helicopter carriers with F-35B stealth jets
The introduction of the short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft could bolster Japan’s ability to defend far-flung islands in the southwest.
LDP divided over more substantial changes to Article 9 of Japan's war-renouncing Constitution
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Wednesday it is weighing both moderate and drastic revisions of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, as it summarized its discussions on constitutional amendment in an interim report. The LDP may lean toward revisions to Article 9 proposed ...
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party eyes Jan. 22 for the convening of the next ordinary Diet session
The government and the ruling bloc are considering convening the next ordinary session of the Diet on Jan. 22, an executive with the Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday. The government and the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling camp hope the Diet will pass the planned supplementary ...
Shinzo Abe calls for Japan's 'rebirth' in 2020 along with constitutional revision
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday reiterated calls for rebooting long-stalled parliamentary debate on the revision of Japan's post-war Constitution, saying he wants to see a "significant rebirth" of the nation in 2020. Speaking at a Tokyo event, Abe touched on his self-imposed goal of ...
Edano's David goes after Abe's 'arrogant' Goliath in Diet
The leader of the small Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which exceeded expectations in October's snap poll, now hopes that by offering clear policy alternatives he can oust Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition in the next election. One key to achieving that ambitious goal, ...
Without an official father, kids can be stateless
On Nov. 29, the Kobe District Court dismissed a suit against the state filed by a woman in her 60s who claimed that the law that allows only men to deny paternity of a child is unconstitutional, since it discriminates against women. She said ...
