Japanese Minister Mis-quoted in Paper

The current Japanese deputy Prime Minister and minister for Finance has apologised for the confusion surrounding his remark regarding the Weimar Republic. He retracted the remarks in a statement earlier this week. He was quoted as suggesting that Japan should change its constitution through undemocratic hidden means such as the Weimar constitution:

“The German Weimar constitution changed, without being noticed, to the Nazi German constitution. Why don’t we learn from their tactics?”

The remark came under fire from anti-fascism groups as well as other Asian nations, where Japan’s involvement in the second world war caused massive turmoil and destruction, especially in China.

It is now believed that the Minister was mis-quoted by a local newspaper. In fact, the minister was suggesting that constitutional reform should not be pulled through during a time of turmoil lest the power be too much. He did cite the Weimar republic, but only as a negative example. It was meant as a rebuttal to other ministers who intended the constitution to be changed quietly:

“So, saying “we should do it quietly” is also relevant to the Weimar constitution – it was changed without anyone even noticing. How about we learn from their methods? I have no intention of denying democracy, but I do not want to decide something like this in the midst of an uproar.”

The media has also suffered negative backlash from the public in Japan, who now believe that the Minister’s speech was deliberately taken out of context for the sake of a story. This seems to be supported by the fact the word "Nazi" was apparently not in the original speech.

 Whether it was an innocent mistake or wilful misinterpretation, the problem of the constitution in Japan is rapidly coming to a head. It was a post-war constitution brought into play after the Japanese surrender. It bans the holding of military forces in the island nation, and aside from that it is essentially similar to the American constitution. The problem is that now, decades after its ratification, Japan is beginning to feel increasingly uneasy with its close proximity to the military titan of China. Even more moderate politicians seem to believe total, consitutional de-militarisation to be unrealistic in future.