ABSTRACT
The constitution of Japan was promulgated in November 1946 and became effective six months later on May 3, 1947. The seven articles of the 1947 constitution that set forth the framework of the Japanese judiciary introduced the legal precepts of the Anglo-American rather than European tradition to Japan. The movement for constitutional revision is kept alive by splinter rightist organizations on the fringes of political legitimacy and by a few Liberal Democratic Diet members who address the subject with less and less frequency. The discussion on the Diet thus far has concentrated on the plenary sessions of the lower and upper houses, but as in several other national legislatures substantial work is done in committees. The emperor of Japan is the “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people”. The emperor provides the stability and unity necessary for a nation to continue its identity with the past as it seeks the future.
