ISHIHARA Shintarō

石原慎太郎

ISHIHARA Shintarō¹ (Reimei no Kai)²
The Main Articles of the Ishihara Constitution³
1993

Article 1. The Emperor shall be the head of State, and the symbol of Japan (and its permanence) and of the unity of the people.
(Another Proposal) The Emperor shall be the symbol of the State, and of the harmony and cooperation among the people. [The emperor] shall be the national representative of Japan.

Article 7. (Guaranteeing the Security of All Humanity)
In order to secure the existence of all humanity, the people will go beyond the framework of the nation-state and actively deal with the following matters:
1. Protecting the global environment
2. The abolition of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and other such weapons of mass destruction.
(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, [the people] shall strive to establish an environmental protection system; promote the prohibition of manufacturing, possessing, and introducing nuclear weapons⁴ [into Japan]; and reduce armaments.

Article 8. (Renunciation of War, the Establishment of a Collective Security System, and the Authority to Command and Supervise)
…In order to ensure international peace and security, [the people] shall strive to establish a collective security system by the entire international community. The Japanese people forever renounce the threat or use of force, except in cases of self-defense or participation in peacekeeping operations under the command of the U.N.
(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, a Self-Defense Force and an International Peace Cooperation Unit shall be maintained.
(3) The Prime Minister, representing the Cabinet, has the supreme authority to command and supervise the Self-Defense Forces and the International Peace Cooperation unit.⁵

Article 9. (Obeying Treaties and Laws)
In order to establish a system of international cooperation, treaties concluded by Japan and laws established by nations shall be faithfully observed.
(2) In cases mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, when a conflict with the constitution arises, the Constitution shall be supreme, and there must be an effort to make them agree [with the Constitution].

Article 82. (Temporary Legislation, Procedures for Amendments, and their Promulgation)
This Constitution, along with all laws, shall become null and void after twenty years have passed since its enforcement.

The Reimei no Kai (sometimes translated as the Daybreak Association by the English-language media in Japan), was a trans-faction policy study group created by Ishihara Shintarō in the fall of 1989. Ishihara said that his goal was to “bring new life (kasseika) to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) through policy research that transcends factions.” (Yomuri Shinbun, November 9, 1989, p. 3). On April 25, 1991, Ishihara revealed that the Reimei no Kai was in the process of writing a draft of a revised constitution that would revise Article 9 of the existing constitution and authorize the use of force for U.N. peacekeeping operations (Yomiuri Shinbun, April 26, 1991.) Members of the Reimei no Kai included Kosaka Zentarō, Inaba Osamu, Hasegawa Takashi, Nakao Eiichi, Arima Motoharu, Ozawa Kiyoshi, Kamei Shizuka, Mori Kiyoshi, Hiranuma Takeo, Matuda Kurō, Kōnoike Yoshitada, and Sonoda Hiroyuki.