Japan Constitution Panel Holds 1st Meeting in Current Diet Session

November 29, 2018

Tokyo--The House of Representatives Commission on the Constitution on Thursday held its first meeting since the ongoing extraordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, was convened late last month.

The Lower House panel only appointed new directors after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reshuffled its leadership team in October.

The LDP picked former internal affairs minister Yoshitaka Shindo, who is close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as head of directors for the ruling bloc. He succeeded former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, who has attached weight on the promotion of cooperation with opposition forces.

Abe hopes to have the LDP's draft proposals of constitutional amendment presented to the current parliamentary session, set to close on Dec. 10. The party aims to add a new provision to war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution to clarify the rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces.

"We'd like to pursue every possibility up to the end" of the session, Shindo told a news conference after the panel's meeting.

The gathering was attended mainly by members from the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, as well as those from Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Party of Hope.

Meanwhile, members from other opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Communist Party, did not appear in the meeting to protest the decision by the LDP's Eisuke Mori, who chairs the commission, to hold the meeting using his authority.

The decision reflected "the extreme tyranny of the Abe administration," Kiyomi Tsujimoto, the CDPJ's parliamentary affairs chief, told reporters. "Constitutional discussions will surely be delayed." Jiji Press