Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution
Also called: No war clause · Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
Article 9 is the "no war clause" in the constitution Japan adopted after its defeat in the Second World War. It was written under the US-led Occupation as part of a plan to demilitarise Japan, which means removing its power to make war. Under it, Japan gives up war as a way of settling disputes with other countries. It marks Japan's break from the aggressive militarism of the 1930s and 1940s.
Example
Before 1945, the Japanese army and navy answered directly to the emperor, not to the cabinet, and this helped drive the Pacific War (1941–45). After the war, the new constitution added Article 9 to stop Japan from going to war again.
Don't confuse with
- Meiji Constitution (1889): Japan's first constitution. It gave the army and navy their own line of command under the emperor. Article 9 belongs to the post-war constitution and does the opposite.
Related concepts
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- US Occupation of Japan
- Japanese post-war economic miracle
- Shinkansen
- Minamata disease