Table of Contents

Introduction
Fall 1945
1: "Negotiated Surrender": American Planning and Occupation
2: "This Fundamental Problem": MacArthur Saves Hirohito
3: "In Good Faith": Japan Considers Constitutional Reform
4: "A Rational Way": Konoe and Matsumoto on Constitutional Reform
Imposing the American Model
5: "Only as a Last Resort": The Americans Take Over
6: "A Liberal and Enlightened Constitution": The SCAP Model
7: "A Very Serious Matter": The Cabinet's Initial Reactions
8: "Do Your Best": The Marathon Meeting
9: "Grave Danger": The FEC Challenges MacArthur
10: "Seize the Opportunity": Re-working the March 6th Draft
11: "No Choice But to Abide": The Privy Council and Bureaucrats Prepare
Transforming a Draft into a Constitution
12: "Along Democratic and Peace-loving Lines": Yoshida Presents his Draft
13: "Free and Untrammeled Debate": The Emperor's Prerogatives
14: "Fervent Hopes": Pacifism and Human Rights
15: "Complex and Labyrinthine": The Structure of Government
16: "Fresh Trouble": The House Subcommitte Frames Amendments
17: "Fundamental Principles of Democracy": Rights and Imperial Property
18: "Sincere and Steady Efforts": Denouement
19: "Last Service to the Fatherland": House of Peers Addresses Revision
20: "A Borrowed Suit": Peers Accept the Inevitable
Sequel
21: "Broaden and Deepen the Debate": Fifty Years Without Revision
Conclusion
Notes
Appendices
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Ray A. Moore is Professor of History and Asian Studies at Amherst College. Donald L. Robinson is Charles N. Clark Professor of Government and American Studies at Smith College. Together they edited The Constitution of Japan: A Documentary History of its Framing and Adoption, 1945-1947.

Reviews

"A thoroughly researched and clearly written study.... no one studying the creation of the Japanese constitution following the Pacific war can ignore this fine and analytical study, with an extensive listing of sources and a bibliography including Japanese references. We owe an immense debt to professors Moore and Robinson for enlarging our knowledge of this vital moment in both American and Japanese history."--Journal of American History
"The most detailed and reliable book that has been written in English on the formulating process of Japan's present Constitution by two authors who are specialists in modern Japanese history and American Constitutional development. This book reveals in great detail, for the first time the drafting process of the GHQ/SCAP version based on interviews with, and the private papers of Colonel Kades, the main drafter of the Constitution. This book, from an original
point of view, throws light on the present debate on Japanese Constitutional revision which is the most serious political issues of the postwar period."--Shoichi Koseki Professor of Constitutional Law
Dokkyo University, Japan
"A fascinating inside story of the process of drafting a constitution that achieved widespread acceptance in Japan as the foundation of democracy....Highly recommended."--Choice
"[an] excellent book. Show[s] the sublety with which the Japanese got around awkward American proposals."--Foreign Affairs
"A thoroughly researched and clearly written study.... no one studying the creation of the Japanese constitution following the Pacific war can ignore this fine and analytical study, with an extensive listing of sources and a bibliography including Japanese references. We owe an immense debt to professors Moore and Robinson for enlarging our knowledge of this vital moment in both American and Japanese history."--Journal of American History
"The most detailed and reliable book that has been written in English on the formulating process of Japan's present Constitution by two authors who are specialists in modern Japanese history and American Constitutional development. This book reveals in great detail, for the first time the drafting process of the GHQ/SCAP version based on interviews with, and the private papers of Colonel Kades, the main drafter of the Constitution. This book, from an original
point of view, throws light on the present debate on Japanese Constitutional revision which is the most serious political issues of the postwar period."--Shoichi Koseki Professor of Constitutional Law
Dokkyo University, Japan
"A fascinating inside story of the process of drafting a constitution that achieved widespread acceptance in Japan as the foundation of democracy.... Highly Recommended"--Choice