Documents with Commentaries Part 4 Deliberations in the Imperial Diet

4-10 Bill for Revision of Imperial Constitution Revised and Passed by the House of Representatives

 Several amendments were made to the government proposal through the deliberations carried out in the House of Representatives and the House of Peers. The main amendments made in the House of Representatives included: clarification of the fundamental principle of sovereignty of the people; the addition of the clause "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph" to the second paragraph of article 9 regarding the renunciation of war; addition of a paragraph regarding the right to life; addition of new articles regarding requirements for citizenship, tax obligation, national redress, and compensation of prisoners; selection of the prime minister from within the members of the Diet; stipulation that the majority of Ministers of State be members of the Diet; and stipulation that all property of the Imperial Household should belong to the nation. The major amendments made by the House of Peers were to guarantee universal suffrage in the election of public officials, and to stipulate that the Prime Minister and other Ministers of State must be civilians.

 In this report on approval of the amended bill submitted to the plenary session of the House of Representatives by the Special Committee, some of the points amended in the House of Peers were written in by hand. We can see by looking at these materials that the term used to convey the English word "Civilians" was changed from "bukan no shokureki o yushinai mono (people without military experience)" to "bunmin".

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• Outline
  1. Outline Part 1 Military Defeat and Efforts to Reform the Constitution
  2. Outline Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
  3. Outline Part 3 Formulation of the GHQ Draft and Response of the Japanese Government
  4. Outline Part 4 Deliberations in the Imperial Diet
  5. Outline Part 5 Enactment of the Constitution of Japan
• Documents with Commentaries
  1. Documents with Commentaries Part 1 Military Defeat and Efforts to Reform the Constitution
  2. Documents with Commentaries Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
  3. Documents with Commentaries Part 3 Formulation of the GHQ Draft and Response of the Japanese Government
  4. Documents with Commentaries Part 4 Deliberations in the Imperial Diet
  5. Documents with Commentaries Part 5 Enactment of the Constitution of Japan
• Main Issues
  1. Popular Sovereignty and the Emperor System
  2. Renunciation of War
  3. Guarantees for Fundamental Human Rights
  4. A New Bicameral System
  5. Judicial Review of Constitutionality
  6. Local Self-Government
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