National Diet Library Newsletter
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Electronic exhibition
"Birth of the Constitution of
Japan" launched
This is a translation of an article in the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 505 (Apr. 2003)
| May 3, 2003 was the 56th anniversary of the coming into force of the
Constitution of Japan. To commemorate the anniversary, the National
Diet Library (NDL) launched a new electronic exhibition "Birth of the Constitution
of Japan" on the NDL website (http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/index.html)
on May 3.
Under the general title "Memories of Japan", a series of electronic exhibitions of the NDL introduces library holdings as cultural heritage in electronic form. As part of the series, the "Birth of the Constitution of Japan" focuses on the process of the formulation of the Constitution, introducing important contemporary documents. Approximately one hundred historical documents, from well-known ones that appear in school textbooks to rare documents that are not easily accessed by the general public, are introduced.
Among the exhibits, the "Outline of Constitution Draft" (Constitution Investigation Association, Dec. 1945), one of the private constitution drafts that engaged great interest at the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP), the "MacArthur Notes" (Feb. 1946) that show General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) 's Three Basic Points of revision of the Constitution, and the "New Constitution - Bright Life" (Constitution Popularization Society, May 1947) that was distributed to every home in Japan to popularize the new Constitution, are included. Generally, the exhibition consists of two parts: "Outline" and "Documents with Commentaries." The "Outline" consists of five chapters with brief explanations of the process of establishing the new Constitution from the end of World War II to its proclamation and coming into force.
"Explanatory Illustrations of the Constitution of Japan" In "Documents with Commentaries", all pages of the documents can be displayed as digital images. These images are in two sizes, Zoom (1024×1536 pixels) and Full Size (512×768 pixels), so that visitors can select a suitable size according to their electronic environment. Each document is displayed with commentary that will help you to understand its value more deeply. Some documents are provided with text data so that full text search is available. Besides, reference materials such as "Historical Figures", "Glossary", and "Chronological Table" are also available. We hope many of you will visit our site to view this exhibition and understand the process of the birth of the Constitution of Japan in depth. Contact:
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