LEAD: Diet panel issues Constitution revision report, eyes Article 9

Japan Policy & Politics, April 18, 2005

TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING COMMENT BY PANEL CHAIRMAN NAKAYAMA, KOIZUMI IN 6-8TH GRAFS)

A House of Representatives panel on the Constitution approved Friday by a majority vote its final report calling for revisions to the supreme law, including changes to the war-renouncing Article 9.

The report, which sums up five years of discussions at the lower house's Research Commission on the Constitution, also seeks to allow females to assume the imperial throne.

This is the first time for Japan's post-World War II parliament in nearly 60 years of its history to come up with support for revisions to the Constitution since it was promulgated in 1946.

The report was adopted with the support of members from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition ally New Komeito party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

Members of the smaller opposition parties -- the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party -- voted against the final report.

After presenting the report to lower house President Yohei Kono, lawmaker Taro Nakayama, who chaired the panel, told a news conference, ''If we deepen discussions using the report as the base, we can produce new constitutional provisions based on trust.''

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi welcomed the report as a catalyst to help buoy public debate on changing the Constitution, and called its emphasis on changing Article 9 as an ''appropriate conclusion.''

''Based on the research commission's report, the LDP will compile its proposal this fall, and the DPJ is expected to follow,'' Koizumi, who doubles as LDP president, told reporters. ''By sparking national debate, I think we will gradually be able to come up with something better.''

The report seeks for the panel be given the authority to draft and examine a bill for the state to hold a national referendum on whether to revise the Constitution while maintaining its current framework to continue discussions.

On national security, the report emphasized the need for revisions to the Constitution, as regarding the right to self-defense and the Self-Defense Forces, the majority said they ''do not oppose some kind of constitutional measures to be taken,'' while they agreed to uphold the first provision of Article 9 that renounces war.

The report said panel members were split into three over whether or not to permit Japan's exercise of the right to collective self-defense -- one to allow, the other not to allow and the remaining one to allow with stipulated restrictions.

The report said the majority of the panel members supported the supreme law stipulating Japan's participation in U.N. collective security activities, the definition of defense emergencies and the creation of a framework for regional security in Asia.

They also said the preamble of the Constitution should be rewritten to reflect Japan's history, traditions and culture while upholding the Constitution's principles of popular sovereignty, peace and respect for basic human rights.

A majority approved the continued existence of the current system that recognizes the emperor as the symbol of the state. Meanwhile, they agreed to allow for a female to assume the throne, which is currently limited to male heirs under the Imperial House Law.

The draft report cited as majority opinions that the bicameral system of the parliament should be maintained, that a system to decentralize authorities to local governments should be introduced, and that the power of the premier should be strengthened.

The 700-page report categorizes panel members' opinions over the past five years under various topics along the lines of the articles in the Constitution. Opinions approved by two-thirds or more of panel members on each topic are described as ''majority opinions.''

The JCP and the SDP voted against the report, saying such categorization and statements on ''majority opinions'' is beyond the panel's jurisdiction.

The LDP's committee for drafting a new constitution is set to announce an outline of a draft constitution as early as May. It is then expected to work on drafting the LDP proposal for revising the Constitution, to be made public in November when the party celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The DPJ is to announce its proposal to revise the Constitution in May or after and to compile a draft revised constitution within 2006.

The Research Commission on the Constitution was set up in the lower house, along with one in the House of Councillors, in January 2000 to study changes to the supreme law, which was drafted under U.S. occupation after Japan's defeat in World War II.