The swelling crescendo towards Japan's sovereign rite of passage is a story that has made headlines for months, one stretching back decades. With celebration and public debate, the country approaches an incredible decision:
Supporters of Japan's existing Constitution and advocates of constitutional revision held rallies Monday in Tokyo to mark the 57th Constitution Day, with proposed revisions focusing on the war-renouncing Article 9 amid ongoing operations involving Japanese troops in Iraq.In Hibiya Park, about 5,000 people, including lawmakers from the Japanese Communist Party and Social Democratic Party, gathered to protest moves to revise the Constitution. Meanwhile, at a mass meeting, a pro-constitutional amendment group expressed the hope that discussions would proceed on the creation of a new constitution.
A democracy, forged by a victorious opponent and then set free to be prosperous — that is a moment seen very few times in man's history. That such a nation contemplates the mantle of authority in its region, to assume it and safeguard life, liberty and happiness with the instruments of war is unprecedented. Vanguard, inventor and conservator, Japan is toeing the boundary of its self-imposed, postwar cultural confines. This news deserves more attention than it's receiving.