NCJ Number
129220
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 53 Issue: 1 and 2 Dated: special issue (Winter/Spring 1990) Pages: 51-60
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The author discusses the role of the Emperor in the Constitution and various movements to reform one or more of the provisions of the constitution to return to ideas from the old Emperor system.
Abstract
The article focuses on whether revisionism is still alive with regard to the status of the Emperor. Revisionism is then defined and limited in scope for this discussion. Two types of revisionism are discussed: explicit revision and concealed revision. The explicit revisionism has grown during the 1980's due to a presence of neonationalism because of Japan's status as an economic power in the world. Concealed revisionism involves constitutional interpretation and allows revisionists to achieve in practice what they had been able to achieve through explicit revision. Two examples of this type of revisionism are presented: the idea that the emperor is more than a symbol (the idea of separation of church and states) and the social function of the symbolic emperor versus any political function for the emperor. 8 notes