Japan: Pushed by conservatives, 19 assemblies pass statements urging constitutional revision

<p>A campaign by one of the largest conservative groups in Japan has led to 19 prefectural assemblies passing statements calling on the Diet to rewrite the Constitution. Such position papers and petitions until now have never been approved by any prefectural assembly. But the situation has changed over the past five months.</p><p><br><br>The movement was started by Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference), a group with close ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nippon Kaigi declared at a national convention in November 2013 that it would ask prefectural assemblies to pass position papers calling for constitutional revision.</p><p><br><br>The statements are not legally binding, and those that have passed so far were approved by majority vote rather than unanimously.</p>
Read the full article here: The Asahi Shimbun