Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s convention in April said “the time has come” for amending the constitution. “I would like the way to be paved by next year’s LDP convention for initiating constitutional amendments for a national referendum.” Many of the voters who gave the LDP a record number of seats in the February general election for the House of Representatives must have been thrilled by Takaichi’s remark, expecting that the constitutional amendment might finally be achieved.

However, a big concern has emerged. There are some predictions that Article 9 of the constitution may not be included in the initial amendment proposals. Under the Shinzo Abe administration, the LDP decided to advance four constitutional amendment items: (1) explicitly stipulating the Self-Defense Forces in the constitution, (2) responding to the state of emergency, (3) eliminating any House of Councillors electoral district spanning multiple prefectures, and (4) enhancing education. However, there is a concern that the first item might be removed from the initial constitutional amendment proposals.

Give honor to SDF personnel

I have repeatedly argued that Article 9 must be included in the initial constitutional amendment proposals. A decade ago, the ruling LDP led by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory in a House of Councillors election, allowing pro-amendment forces to secure a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Diet. At the time, I contributed a column titled “Initiate an amendment to explicitly stipulate the SDF in the constitution” to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper as follows:

“SDF personnel are currently carrying out missions risking their lives in areas such as South Sudan and the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands. They have taken an oath: ‘When carrying out missions, I will take risks fulfilling my responsibilities to respond to the mandate of the people.’ The way to reward them is to grant honor to them.

“If politicians order SDF personnel to work for the nation at the risk of their lives while avoiding an explicit provision regarding the SDF in the initial constitutional amendment proposals, they would be too disrespectful to SDF personnel. I strongly believe that we must not shrink from the effort to explicitly stipulate the SDF in the constitution in order to give honor to them.”

Nine months after this column was published, Abe came up with a proposal to explicitly stipulate the SDF in the constitution. The proposed constitutional provision for the SDF is based on the premise that Paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the constitution will be left unchanged. As long as Paragraph 2 that prohibits Japan from maintaining war potential exists, the SDF will continue to face various constraints from which normal military forces are free. I sincerely feel sorry for SDF personnel for the continued constraints. In the face of postwar Japan’s strong complacency about peace, however, I believed 10 years ago that Japan should begin by explicitly stipulating the SDF in the constitution.

Respect for life-risking mission

Over the past decade, the international environment surrounding Japan has steadily deteriorated. Many military experts argue that a constitution that would maintain Paragraph 2 of Article 9 while explicitly stipulating the SDF would be insufficient to prepare for contingencies that could occur in the near future.

Even after a decade has passed, however, even the explicit constitutional provision for the SDF has not been achieved. Excluding any Article 9 amendment from the initial constitutional amendment proposals would be too disrespectful to SDF personnel. Those who put their lives on the line should first be given honor. I strongly reiterate this point.

Tsutomu Nishioka is a senior fellow and a Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a specially-appointed professor at Reitaku University.