Constitution of Japan

Uncommon card · No. 117428

The Constitution of Japan is the supreme law of Japan. Written primarily by American civilian officials during the occupation of Japan after World War II, it was adopted on 3 November 1946 and came into effect on 3 May 1947, succeeding the Meiji Constitution of 1889. The constitution consists of a preamble and 103 articles grouped into 11 chapters. It is based on the principles of popular sovereignty, with the Emperor of Japan as the symbol of the state; the renunciation of war; individual rights; and the prohibition of state religion. Upon the surrender of Japan at the end of the war in 1945, Japan was occupied and U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, directed Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara to draft a new constitution. Shidehara created a committee of Japanese scholars for the task, but MacArthur reversed course in February 1946 and presented a draft created under his own supervision, which was reviewed and modified by the scholars before its adoption...

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