Constitution research council chair: 'Change of Constitution is common sense'

Alleging that change of the Constitution is common sense, House of Representatives Research Council on Constitution Chair Nakayama Taro denounced witnesses in public hearings who criticized plans for the amendment of the Constitution's Article 9.

Nakayama made this statement at a news conference on June 24 following the public hearing in Sapporo city in Hokkaido.

In the public hearing, a lawyer said that the biggest contradiction exists between the existence of the Self-Defense Forces and the Constitution's Article 9. A professor of Otaru University of Commerce said that politicians are responsible for the unconstitutional consequence. A student said that Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda Yasuo's remarks that Japan may alter the Three Non-nuclear Principles is unacceptable.

Showing hostility to these opinions in defense of the Constitution, Nakayama said to the reporters, "They don't know what the Constitution is all about. The world's common sense that the Constitution can be changed is no common sense in Japan."

At the news conference, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member Haruna Naoaki said that the day's public hearing rightly showed that the major political task is to make the Constitution work in real politics and society. (end)