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The account credits the making of Japan’s postwar constitution as an essentially American story. This account of the making of Japan’s postwar constitution has been the accepted history until recent years. MacArthur approved it and SCAP presented it to Japan’s foreign minister as a fait accompli. During one week in February 1946, a committee of 24 Americans, both military and civilian, drafted a democratic constitution for Japan. When Japanese government leaders made only cosmetic changes, MacArthur concluded that it was within SCAP’s authority to draft a completely new government charter for Japan. SCAP called upon Japan’s leaders to revise the constitution in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration, which had set the terms for Japan’s surrender and reconstruction at the end of WWII, provided the rationale for modifying the Meiji Constitution by requiring that Japan remove all obstacles to democracy and ensure basic freedoms and rights. Early in the Occupation, Americans charged with overseeing the democratization of Japan identified the Meiji Constitution of 1887 as a flawed document that had enabled militarists to take control and lead Japan into war. Quickly, however, the explanation of Japanese authorship was replaced with a version acknowledging the strong hand of Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) General Douglas MacArthur and Occupation personnel in the constitution-making process. When the constitution was presented to the Japanese people in 1946, official commentary explained that the Japanese government, with significant input from the emperor and feedback from Occupation authorities, had written the document. In its final section, the digest provides ways in which study of the postwar constitution can enrich social studies instruction. Much of the ongoing controversy stems from the context in which the document was brought into being.įollowing a brief exploration of the history of Japan’s 1947 Constitution, this digest introduces recent scholarship and offers examples of how that scholarship deepens the story of Japan’s postwar constitutional process. Debate over the workability of Japan’s constitution has been a political constant yet, the document has not been amended since its inception. Observers predicted that the constitution would be replaced as soon as the Occupation ended.
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On the occasion of its adoption, one Japanese politician called the document an “ill-fitting suit of clothes,” totally inappropriate as a governmental blueprint for Japan. Japan’s current constitution was written in 1946 and adopted in 1947, while Japan was under Allied occupation following World War II. The Japanese Constitution in American Classrooms Japan's 1947 Constitution: A New Narrative