resolve its moral obligations to other Asian countries. Over the years, many Cabinet
ministers have sought to justify Japan’s colonial rule of Korea and the invasion of
China and Southeast Asia, and this attitude of the Japanese government has hurt
the sensibilities of the people of South Korea and China and attracted harsh
criticism from many Asian countries. Many Asian countries believe that the
Japanese lack of reflection on the past is a sufficient reason for their distrust.
Japanese people and governments bear this fact in mind when they consider
revising the Constitution. Even though the prerogative of constitutional revision
belongs to “We, the Japanese People,” we should make an effort to earn the trust of
neighboring countries before exercising it.^67
(^67) Higuchi, “The paradox of constitutional revisionism in postwar Japan,” pp. 353 – 5.