Senior LDP Dietmember insists on return to old Imperial Constitution

A senior Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives has argued that Japan should set out to revise the Constitution first by nullifying the present Constitution in order to start from the old Imperial (Meiji) Constitution.

In the March issue of the LDP's monthly magazine, Hiranuma Takeo, former state minister for economy, trade and industry, said, "I am opposed to revising the Constitution based on Article 96 of the present Constitution."

Hiranuma says he opposes the present Constitution because it rejects any changes that go against the "three universal principles of fundamental human rights, renunciation of war, and sovereign rights of the people."

"I dissent from this position," Hiranuma said.

Akahata of March 7 commented that Hiranuma's call for a return to the old Imperial Constitution is nonsensical because under the old constitution the emperor is the sovereign and the people are his subjects without basic rights. Even pro-revision forces dare not deny the constitutional principles of people's sovereignty, pacifism, and the defense of basic human rights.

Hiranuma is a promoter of a planned association to learn from the Japan-Russo War of 1904. (end)