Japan Press Weekly

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2013 March 27 - April 2 [POLITICS]

JRP includes constitutional revision in its new program

The Japan Restoration Party on March 30 called for constitutional revision in a new program adopted at its convention held in Osaka City.

The new program criticizes the Japanese Constitution as being “implemented by the occupation forces” and clearly states that it should be drastically revised because the supreme law imposes an unrealistic form of pacifism on the Japanese people.

The JRP program has a lot in common with the Liberal Democratic Party’s draft for constitutional revision. They both seek to amend Article 9 of the Constitution claiming that the Constitution was imposed by the U.S. and use the preservation of tradition and history as a pretext for restoration of the prewar political system centering on the Emperor.

Co-leader of the JRP, Osaka mayor Hashimoto Toru said in the convention that he wants the advocates of constitutional revision to obtain two-thirds of the seats in the Diet, and that that will be the party’s goal in the Upper House election slated for July. It seems that Hashimoto is offering his cooperation to Prime Minister Abe, who is attempting to revise Article 96 of the Constitution in order to ease the requirements for constitutional amendment.

In the convention, the party lifted its previous restriction on receiving corporate donations, and enabled itself to receive donations from corporations up to 20 million yen, the legitimate upper limit in donations that one can make to political party.

The JRP in its action policy for 2013 states that they will seek to: revise Article 96 of the Constitution, promote administrative and financial reforms, reduce the number of Diet seats, and lift a ban on serving as Dietmember and head of a local government at the same time. Meanwhile, it avoids touching on the issue of nuclear power plants.