Finally Chance to Exercise their Constitutional Right to Change the Constitution?
Public opinion is swaying in favor of amending Article 9 to recognize the Self Defense Forces, and given the regional threats, the sooner the better.
According to The Sankei Shimbun on May 16:
Public opinion polls sometimes lead to contradictory data. This was clearly demonstrated in a nationwide opinion poll published by the Asahi Shimbun on Japan’s Constitution Memorial Day, May 3.
According to the poll, only 33% of respondents think that Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution “should be changed,” far behind the 59% who think it “should not be changed.” This data seems to show that the public is largely not in favor of revising Article 9.
However, the same poll showed that 55% of respondents were in favor of the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) proposal to amend Article 9 to clearly acknowledge the existence of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces while leaving war-renouncing Paragraphs 1 and 2 intact. This greatly surpassed the 34% who were against it.
So which is it? The data doesn’t add up.
