60 per cent say Japan’s pacifist constitution should stay unchanged: poll

A recent Kyodo News poll found 60 per cent of respondents said the Japanese Constitution should not be altered, while 32 per cent called for changing it, at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pursuing amending the fundamental law.

The percentage of people who support maintaining the Constitution rose from 55 per cent in a July 1994 poll by the Japan Association for Public Opinion Research, when 34 per cent said it should be changed.

The figures indicate citizens who hope to see no changes to the Constitution may have increased despite the Abe administration’s efforts to change it.

The government changed the interpretation of the Constitution in July last year to allow Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defence, or use force for defending an ally. National security bills to materialize the change are currently being deliberated in the Diet.

The Constitution’s commendable feature cited most frequently by respondents hoping to see the basic law remain unchanged was its war renunciation and pacifism, chosen by 88 per cent, followed by respect for basic human rights picked by 51 per cent. Respondents were allowed to choose up to two options.

The war renunciation and pacifism, meanwhile, was a problematic feature cited most frequently by those who say the basic law should be changed. Thirty-six per cent of them chose the alternative, followed by 34 per cent who viewed the Allied occupation force’s drafting of the Constitution for Japan as problematic.