Documents with Commentaries

1-14 Bureau of Legislation Internal Study of Constitutional Revision Problem

 These are papers from the Bureau of Legislation during the period it was studying the problem of constitutional reform. However, the cabinet of Prince Higashikuni, which was busy responding to the orders flooding out of GHQ, was not able to focus its efforts on the constitutional problem. On one side, Toshio Irie, Director of the First Department in the Bureau of Legislation, was aware of the importance of the constitutional problem, and he independently drafted "The Termination of the War and the Constitution" and sent it to a few of the staff members to advance the study of the problem. They put forth their thoughts, and expressed their opinions in several of the directors' meetings. However, the Cabinet at the time was not receptive by reason of the internal political situation, and Naokai Murase, Director General of the Bureau of Legislation, gave instructions to handle the problem of constitutional reform with great care. These preliminary studies became the precursor to the Constitutional Problems Investigation Committee, which was established immediately after the Shidehara Cabinet was formed.

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