National Apr 11, 2014
The Nobel Prize Committee officially nominates war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Editorials Apr 8, 2014
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.
National / Politics Apr 8, 2014
Bill to lower referendum voting age submitted to Lower House
by Ayako Mie
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.
National Apr 4, 2014
Japan's image hurt by Abe's militarist facade: Nye
by Ayako Mie
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.
National / Politics Apr 2, 2014
A panel of experts endorsed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will postpone until May its submission of a report proposing that Japan lift its ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense, a government source said Wednesday. The decision to postpone the report for about ...
National / Politics | ANALYSIS Mar 27, 2014
Abe ready for full-on military drive
by Ayako Mie
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. Abe ...
National / Politics Mar 26, 2014
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has approved a bill to revise the referendum law for changing the Constitution, paving the way for enactment during the current Diet session. The crux of the planned bill, when was endorsed Wednesday at a joint meeting of LDP panels ...
Issues | LAW OF THE LAND Mar 26, 2014
Japan's Constitution: never amended but all too often undermined
by Colin P.A. Jones
If Japan's unwritten constitution is already so flexible, why are Abe and his party so bent on amending the written one?
National / Politics Mar 2, 2014
Abe's Cabinet to pursue revision of 10 laws in collective defense push
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government may seek Diet approval this fall to revise over 10 laws that would allow it to dodge the constitutional ban on collective self-defense.
Commentary / Japan | SENTAKU MAGAZINE Feb 25, 2014
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.
National Feb 24, 2014
China, eyeing Japan, seeks WWII focus for Xi during Germany visit
by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina
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. China has increasingly ...