「改憲」よりも「立憲」を(シンポジウム1 憲法改正問題-この国をどうする-)
2006 年 42 巻 2 号 p. 225-233
詳細
2006 年 42 巻 2 号 p. 225-233
During the American occupation of Japan after World War II, the Japanese were unable or unwilling to complete a new constitution which satisfied General Douglas MacArthur. He ordered his staff to draft a new constitution, which they did in less than a week, and then translated it into Japanese in 1946. Japan lost a chance to rebuild the new state. It was also unfortunate that we lost the chance to reconsider our state by ourselves. That means that we lost reality. The constitution of Japan has no author. It was made not by us, even not by US, but by "somebody". Who would take responsibility for an anonymous constitution? In early 90s, some political leaders began to think Japan needed to transform itself to "a normal state". This sentiment leads to the debate on revising the constitution today. I think that it could place the Japanese people on the position of "author" in a true meaning. But, how can we get back the reality lost sixty years ago? Is it possible for us to do that just by rewriting the text? It is not. We do need change the Constitution in action first, the Constitution in text later.
