of the Japanese Constitution is a clause in the nationalConstitution of Japan specifying the process for making amendments. The Constitution has remained unchanged since coming into effect on May 3, 1947, and many politicians are calling for a revision of Article 96 so that they can begin revising other, more central Articles.
Text of the article
The full text of the article in Japanese, and its official English translation, reads:
Debate
The Japanese Constitution has not been revised since it was first created in 1947. By contrast, the United States has made six amendments since WWII. Since then, many Japanese have advocated for revisions to numerous articles but they have been unable to gain the support of two-thirds of both houses of the National Diet, let alone the simple majority of the Japanese electorate in the subsequent referendum vote. As such, proponents of revision have set their sights on Article 96, hoping to revise it so that amendments no longer require a supermajority in the Diet. The primary motive behind the revision of Article 96 appears to be the revision of Article 9, which "renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation" and promises that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained". However, other Articles have also been proposed for revision or deletion. Shinzo Abe, the current Prime Minister of Japan, has been a vocal proponent of revising Article 96, stating that "It's unfair that just more than one-third of lawmakers could block revisions even if 50 percent or more of the publicwant to amend the Constitution". Given that his Liberal Democratic Party controls both Houses of the National Diet, political pundits say that he has a fair chance to succeed. However, the Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, New Komeito, may be unwilling to support such a change, and in fact, the Liberal Democratic Party appeared to drop the issue from its platform in the run up to the House of Councillors election in 2013. Moreover, the Japanese population appears to be roughly divided regarding the revision of Article 96, with 42% in favor and 46% against according to a recent Mainichi Shimbun poll. A separate NHK survey showed that nearly 50% of Japanese had no opinion on the subject. The LDP's proposed constitutional amendment would amend Article 96 as follows:
