No. 137, June 2004

Complete version of the
"Birth of the Constitution of Japan" launched

This is a translation of an article in
the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 517 (Apr. 2004)

The complete version of the electronic exhibition "Birth of the Constitution of Japan" was made available on this year's Constitution Day, May 3, on the National Diet Library (NDL) website (http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/index.html). The initial version had been launched a year before.

Features of the new version are as follows:

Substantial additions to the exhibits
More than 80 documents, mainly materials related to the Allied Powers, were newly added to the exhibition. Together with the documents already introduced in the exhibition, you can see 180 documents in total concerning the formulation of the Constitution.

"Outline" and "Documents with Commentaries" sections revised
In the "Outline," explanations of the moves of the Allied Powers, which had a great influence on the formulation of the new Constitution, were added. In the "Documents with Commentaries," commentaries were revised or added for the new exhibits.

New sections: "Main Issues" and "Archives"
"Main Issues" takes up issues such as the renunciation of war and the bicameral system, and describes the background and arguments of that time that resulted in the provisions in the Constitution. "Archives" contains documents with substantial contents that help us understand the process of the formulation of the Constitution.

The electronic exhibition "Birth of the Constitution of Japan" will be useful for various purposes such as Diet deliberation, study of constitutional history, and school classes. We hope you will visit this exhibition and enjoy its new design and contents.

To mark the completion of the exhibition, we held a round-table talk with Professor Shoichi Koseki, Constitutional historian and Professor of Dokkyo University, Dr. Kenneth J. Ruoff, Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Japanese Studies, Portland State University, as guests and Mr. Katsutoshi Takami, Senior Specialist of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau, NDL, as supervisor of the exhibition. A report of the talk will be featured in a coming issue of NDL Monthly Bulletin.

Constitution of Japan,  November 3, 1946

Minister of State Mr. Kanamori explaining to the  House of Representatives the reason for the proposal to revise the Imperial Constitution (July 1, 1946)

Contact:
Digital Library Division
Projects Department
Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library
tel: +81-774-98-1487 (direct line)
fax: +81-774-94-9118