Home > LAWREVS > WILJ > Vol. 26 > No. 1 (2017)
Washington International Law Journal
Abstract
The post World War II American Occupation of Japan was a huge programmatic success. Its disarmament, repatriation, land reform, and health programs put a defeated Japan on the road to recuperation, while providing a military shield that enabled Japan to focus on recovery from the War and rebuilding the country and economy. Perhaps its most enduring legacy was its Enlightenment-based, American-drafted, rights-oriented Constitution of 1947 [hereinafter “the Constitution”]. Drafted in English, the Constitution was promulgated in Japanese, resulting in some substantive changes. Among the most important of these were changing the English word “people” into the Japanese “kokumin” (Japanese citizens) and transmuting many definitive rights into more passive language.
First Page
17
Recommended Citation
Carl F. Goodman,
Contemplated Amendments to Japan's 1947 Constitution: A Return to Iye, Kokutai and the Meiji State,
26 Wash. Int’l L.J.
17
(2017).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol26/iss1/4