On the occasion of the 63rd Constitution Day, and with the national referendum law to take effect May 18, a group of conservative intellectuals on Monday stressed the need to kick-start debate on the Constitution, which they argued has been on the back burner for too long.
"The Constitution debate is more low-key this year than we've ever seen," Osamu Nishi, head of a committee of conservative intellectuals, said at a forum in Tokyo.
This is the first Constitution Day since the Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners came to power, and Nishi said "the current government has no intention of putting the Constitution debate back on the table."