Kenpou Kinenbi

Golden Week is upon us, the spring planting festival subsumed into modern national holidays. Shouwa no hi, the memorial of the birth of the Shouwa Tennou (referred to in foreign media as Emperor Hirohito), was the 29th of April. But after a couple of days back to work, the holiday week is now in full swing, with Kenpou Kinenbi (Constitution Memorial Day) today. This celebrates the adoption of the 1947 Constitution by the government-under-occupation.

It is also the day all the "no amendments, none, never" factions of Japanese politics put on their displays of... well, frankly, of ignorance. But be that as it may, for there have been serious (if on-again-off-again) efforts to actually amend the Constitution since 2005.

Much to this author's pleasant surprise, a main speaker at the pro-amendment rally in Shinjuku, Toukyou (Tokyo) today was none other that Koike Yuriko (Y. Koike) of Jiyuu Minshutou (the Liberal Democratic Party; LDP):

"Constitutional revisions are indispensable to building international peace in the true sense of the words. The time has already ripened," said Yuriko Koike, a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a former defense minister.

Koike went on to criticize the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, whose members are often divided over issues related to the peace provisions of the Constitution, saying the party would not be qualified to assume power as long as it avoids mapping out its stance on the subject.

Excellent. She promoted the pro-amendment platform *and* landed a glove on the pride of Minshutou (the Democratic Party of Japan; DPJ).

That's the way one gets another shot at party leadership, ma'am. Here's hoping for success to both your goals and the pro-amendment effort.