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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 02, 2003

54 Percent Japanese Favor Amending Constitution: Survey

More than half of Japanese want the Constitution revised, with 42 percent calling for amending the war-renouncing Article 9, according to a poll released by a major daily Wednesday.


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More than half of Japanese want the Constitution revised, with 42 percent calling for amending the war-renouncing Article 9, according to a poll released by a major daily Wednesday.

The survey conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun found that 54 percent of respondents favor revising the Constitution, topping 50percent for the sixth straight year, while 30 percent oppose it.

Forty-two percent of respondents said Article 9 should be revised because they no longer think it is possible to deal with various emerging problems through applications of the article, the paper said.

Article 9 states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

Thirty percent of respondents said the article can be interpreted, but 18 percent said the article must be strictly observed and was not open for interpretation.

Japanese government also interprets Article 9 to mean that the right to collective defense is banned under the Constitution, the newspaper said.

Thirty-five percent of respondents said this interpretation should be maintained, while 33 percent want a constitutional revision or a new interpretation to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective defense.

Of the constitutional issues respondents were most interested in, the highest number, or 49 percent, said those relating to the renunciation of war and the Self-Defense Forces, 31 percent picked environmental problems, 24 percent privacy protection, and 21 percent the right to life and social welfare.

The poll was conducted in face-to-face interviews March 22 and 23, the daily said, adding that it covered 3,000 people nationwide, with 1,846, or 61.5 percent responding.


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