Third May is the Constitution Day in Japan, as the present Constitution was promulgated on this day in 1947. It has been customary for the media to publish on or around this day the result of the polls they have conducted on the Constitution. Since in the present Japan it is becoming a very hot issue, as I have discussed in the past week, the media this year seem to allot more time and space to the Constitution. I would like to pick up some features from the polls published by the Asahi newspaper on 2 May.
The most important question they have asked, after showing the text of the Article 9, is whether the respondent is in favour, or not, of changing it. 39% is in favour, 52% is not.
The gap between the two groups may not appear as large, but look at the answers to the following several questions. One is, How strongly does the respondent feel that Japan should not go to war again, and 72% feel strongly and another 18% feel somewhat strongly. So 90% are against their country going to war again, in effect under any circumstances, and only 6% do not feel so. Relatedly, 77% think that Japan should maintain the three principles of her nuclear weapons policy of Not possessing, not manufacturing, not letting others to bring them, which is remarkable under the North Korean intimidation. Besides, 71% are against the expansion of the export of weapons from Japan, which is also remarkable given that the country is still in an economically bad shape.
It is by now fairly known that the ruling LDP is proposing to transform the present Self Defence Forces into a regular Defence Forces. 62% is against, and only 31%, just half, support it, which is also remarkable taking into consideration the high(still high) supporting rate for PM Abe and his government. It is also becoming known that the US is outright pressing Japan to make her right of collective self defence exercisable, meaning that Japan should be able to send fighting forces on the side of the US. However, only 33% think that it should be exercisable, and 56% do not think so. As to the crux of the matter, so to speak, which is the question of whether the LDP's proposal of amending Article 96, so that it becomes easier for the Parliament to put a draft amendment for the referendum, only 38% is in favour, with 54% against.
The most important question they have asked, after showing the text of the Article 9, is whether the respondent is in favour, or not, of changing it. 39% is in favour, 52% is not.
The gap between the two groups may not appear as large, but look at the answers to the following several questions. One is, How strongly does the respondent feel that Japan should not go to war again, and 72% feel strongly and another 18% feel somewhat strongly. So 90% are against their country going to war again, in effect under any circumstances, and only 6% do not feel so. Relatedly, 77% think that Japan should maintain the three principles of her nuclear weapons policy of Not possessing, not manufacturing, not letting others to bring them, which is remarkable under the North Korean intimidation. Besides, 71% are against the expansion of the export of weapons from Japan, which is also remarkable given that the country is still in an economically bad shape.
It is by now fairly known that the ruling LDP is proposing to transform the present Self Defence Forces into a regular Defence Forces. 62% is against, and only 31%, just half, support it, which is also remarkable taking into consideration the high(still high) supporting rate for PM Abe and his government. It is also becoming known that the US is outright pressing Japan to make her right of collective self defence exercisable, meaning that Japan should be able to send fighting forces on the side of the US. However, only 33% think that it should be exercisable, and 56% do not think so. As to the crux of the matter, so to speak, which is the question of whether the LDP's proposal of amending Article 96, so that it becomes easier for the Parliament to put a draft amendment for the referendum, only 38% is in favour, with 54% against.
No comments:
Post a Comment