{"id":11592,"date":"2013-07-03T10:11:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T20:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11592"},"modified":"2013-07-03T10:59:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T20:59:42","slug":"meidais-repeta-lecture-may-23-on-ldps-likely-constitutional-reforms-deletes-fundamental-guarantee-of-human-rights-shifts-from-rights-to-duties-prioritizes-public-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11592","title":{"rendered":"Meidai’s Repeta lecture May 23 on LDP’s likely constitutional reforms: Deletes fundamental guarantee of human rights, shifts from “rights” to “duties” & prioritizes “public order”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0We are mere weeks away from the next Diet Upper House election<\/a> (July 23, to be exact), where half the seats are up for grabs, and at this point it looks like Japan’s rightward swing will be successful and complete<\/a>. \u00a0According to current opinion polls<\/a> (and they do matter a priori, as Japan’s voting culture rarely supports underdogs), the LDP is far and away in the lead<\/a> (so far so that the opposition DPJ won’t even bother to field more than one candidate in the Tokyo constituency<\/a>), meaning they will probably add the Upper House to its collection of majorities in the more-powerful Lower House as well.<\/p>\n

With this comes the likelihood of first changes in the Postwar Constitution. \u00a0Legal scholar Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha University has already come out with articles in the Japan Times discussing the LDP’s proposed changes (see here<\/a> and here<\/a>). \u00a0What I will do in this blog entry is scan and paste in the lecture notes (ten pages) from another legal scholar, Lawrence Repeta of Meiji University, who gave his analysis in a lecture at Temple University in Tokyo on May 23, 2013. \u00a0It is less accessible than Colin’s newspaper articles but no less authoritative, so here it is, courtesy of CP (notes in the margins probably also by CP).\u00a0Repeta similarly holds that we will see a shift in focus towards strengthening The State in the name of “public order”, and prioritizing the duties and obligations of the Japanese public rather than guaranteeing their rights as individuals.<\/p>\n

In sum (I argue), we are seeing the return of Japanese as Imperial subjects rather than citizens<\/a>, where rights and duties are granted from above rather than secured and guaranteed from below.<\/p>\n

This is what’s coming, folks. \u00a0Be prepared. \u00a0Arudou Debito<\/p>\n

\"repetalecture0523131\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"repetalecture0523133\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Also enclosed in CP’s mailing was this curious note from senior Japan scholar Ronald Dore, which fixates on one particular debate held more than 20 years ago (along with snide asides at Japan’s Left), and even gets the former Tokyo Governor’s name wrong:<\/p>\n

\"dorenotes052313\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are mere weeks away from the next Diet Upper House election (July 23, to be exact), where half the seats are up for grabs, and at this point it looks like Japan’s rightward swing will be successful and complete. According to current opinion polls (and they do matter a priori, as Japan’s voting culture rarely supports underdogs), the LDP is far and away in the lead (so far so that the opposition DPJ won’t even bother to field more than one candidate in the Tokyo constituency), meaning they will probably add the Upper House to its collection of majorities in the more-powerful Lower House as well.<\/p>\n

With this comes the likelihood of first changes in the Postwar Constitution. Legal scholar Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha University has already come out with articles in the Japan Times discussing the LDP’s proposed changes (see here and here). What I will do in this blog entry is scan and paste in the lecture notes (ten pages) from another legal scholar, Lawrence Repeta of Meiji University, who gave his analysis in a lecture at Temple University in Tokyo on May 23, 2013. It is less accessible than Colin’s newspaper articles but no less authoritative, so here it is, courtesy of CP (notes in the margins probably also by CP). Repeta similarly holds that we will see a shift in focus towards strengthening The State in the name of “public order”, and prioritizing the duties and obligations of the Japanese public rather than guaranteeing their rights as individuals. <\/p>\n

In sum, we are seeing the return of Japanese as Imperial subjects rather than citizens, where rights and duties are granted from above rather than secured and guaranteed from below. This is what’s coming, folks. Be prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,5,4,14,64,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-issue","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-sitys","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}