The Future of the Japanese Constitution : From the "MacArthur Constitution" to What?

The Constitution of Japan was promulgated on November 3, 1946 and put into eff ect on May 3, 1947. The American government as well as the American Constitution had a considerable infl uence on the enactment process of the postwar constitution. It is often called the “MacArthur Constitution” because it was drafted by the staff of General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for Allied Powers (SCAP). There was a rather limited amount of input from the Japanese government and the Japanese people. The constitution was hurriedly put together within an amazingly short time in the midst of the immediate postwar confusion. In fact, it is reported that it took only nine days for the MacArthur staff to draft it. The Constitution of 1947 was not the fi rst constitution Japan had. In fact, Japan was the fi rst country in Asia to have a written modern constitution. The fi rst modern constitution was called the Constitution of the Empire of Japan, more commonly known as the Meiji Constitution, named after Emperor Meiji, the great grandfather of the present Emperor Akihito. It was promulgated in 1889 and went into eff ect in 1890. The Constitution of 1890 was patterned after the constitution of