By Chen Yang
In Japan's 26th house election, the pro-constitutional revision forces have secured more than two-thirds seats in the house. Given that the issue of the constitution revision will be an important issue in its domestic politics, Japan will undoubtedly attract much attention as to how Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will lead Japan's national development in the future.
Japan's upper house is generally less visible than the lower house, and the Japanese people tend to be less enthusiastic about voting in the upper house election thereby. However, according to information released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (MIC), a total of 19,613,956 people voted from June 23 to July 9, an increase of more than 2.55 million compared with three years ago in the upper house election, reaching a historical high.
With the election, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has further consolidated the foundation of governance. Since taking office, Fumio Kishida, first of all, led the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition to win the lower house election in October last year, and then this time to win the upper house election. This means that on the one hand, the Kishida government will not be constrained by the opposition parties from the perspective of the National Diet of Japan in proposing budgets, legislation, or personnel appointments in the upper and lower houses, and governance efficiency will be greatly improved. On the other hand, as long as the lower house is not dissolved in advance, there will be no major national elections in Japan in the next three years, and the Kishida government is to usher in a relatively stable ruling environment. Both from the perspective of the National Diet and the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition, the Kishida government is bound to have higher autonomy in the formulation and implementation of policies in the future.
With the relatively stable ruling environment, how Kishida Fumio will lead Japan's national development has attracted much attention. After the election, the pro-constitution revision parties (including the LDP, Komeito, Japan Restoration Party and Democratic Party for the People) have taken 179 seats in the upper house, more than two-thirds of the 248 total. Since the pro-constitution revision forces also have more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house, the National Diet of Japan has been able to start the process of amending the constitution.
Japan has maintained a pacifist constitution that stipulates that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained", and" the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation". Japan, however, has repeatedly denied and beautified its war of aggression in recent years, especially after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It has taken the opportunity to hype up the so-called peripheral security threat to seek to ramp up its defense budget to more than 2 percent of GDP, and taken the initiative to cooperate with the US geopolitical strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, ganging up, all bluff and bluster, stoking up regional tensions.
Therefore, once the Kishida government starts to revise the constitution in the future, or even when it completes the revision, it is very likely to lead Japan into the wrong path of foreign military expansion again. Takajing Fujita, Chairman of Japan's Inheritance and Development Murayama Talk, believed that "those who advocate constitution revision are trying to undermine Article 9 of the pacifist constitution. This move will arouse concern and vigilance against Japan in neighboring countries and is foolish as going against building peace in Asia. I strongly oppose it."
Japanese media generally refer to the ruling period of the Kishida government with no major national elections as the "three golden years". However, it is yet to be seen whether the three years will eventually become the "three golden years" for promoting the constitution revision, or the "three golden years" dedicated to improving Japanese society and people's well-being. The Japanese government needs to make a wise choice.
Editor's Note: This article is originally published on haiwainet.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
