Japan’s constitutional albatross

<p data-line-id="2e56ebeb7eaa418ea762470b43b2b383">The approach of the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II has sparked much discussion – and lamentation – of East Asia’s resurgent historical feuds. But recent tensions in the region may partly reflect a lack of progress in another, overlooked area: Japanese constitutional reform. Indeed, despite the powerlessness so vividly highlighted by the Islamic State’s beheading of two Japanese hostages, Japan has not adopted even one amendment to the&nbsp;<a href="http://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html" target="_blank">“peace constitution”</a>&nbsp;that the occupying American forces imposed on it in 1947.</p>
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