Speaking Out #394 August 22, 2016
Biden’s Remark and Japanese Constitution
Yoichi Shimada
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s remark on the Japanese constitution on August 15 has become controversial in Japan.
When criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Biden said, “Does he not understand we wrote Japan’s constitution to say they couldn’t be a nuclear power?” In response to the remark, Japan’s opposition Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada said: “The Japanese Diet deliberated on and made the constitution. It is inappropriate for the vice president to say the United States wrote it…The fact that the Japanese people have nurtured the constitution for 70 years is more important than whether a draft for the constitution was written by General Headquarters of the Allied Powers or not.” However, Okada ‘s reaction missed two essential points.