Tinkering will not fix Japanese democracy
日本修宪应慎重为之
广州日语翻译公司：史密斯：和平宪法给日本人民带来了个人权利，不应轻易抛弃。为了修宪而修宪，只会削弱各方对日本民主的信心。
No one can be happier than Shinzo Abe that Sunday’s upper house election tipped the legislative balance in favour of lawmakers open to revising Japan’s constitution. But throwing off the constraints that followed military defeat and occupation, long an ambition of the prime minister, will be far less important than building a firm foundation for the nation’s future.
7月10号日本上院选举结果使立法天平向修宪派立法者倾斜，对此没有谁比安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)更高兴了。但是，相比为日本的未来奠定一个坚实基础，摆脱日本在遭遇战败和占领后被施加的约束远远没有那么重要。广州日语翻译公司。
A growing number of Japanese people seem taken with the notion that they should try crafting their own constitution. The 100 or so articles of the 1947 document, drafted under occupation by the Allied powers, offset the power of the prewar state by strengthening the individual rights that support popular sovereignty. They protect the choices — of religion, work, protest, due process — Japanese citizens today take for granted.
越来越多的日本人似乎接受了他们应该尝试制定自己的宪法这一想法。1947年版的现行“和平宪法”在盟军占领时期起草，其100来条内容强调个人权利，支持人民主权，削弱了战前的国家权力。这部宪法保护了人民在宗教、工作、抗议、正当法律程序上的自由选择权，如今日本公民对这些权利习以为常。
As tensions intensify across Asia — in the South China Sea, for example — the focus is largely on Article 9, the “no war” clause. Japan’s military decisions are increasingly shaped by its neighbours’ rising capabilities. North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons prompted Tokyo to invest heavily in ballistic missile defence. China’s growing maritime reach has drawn attention to Japan’s readiness to defend its waters and its islands. Last year Mr Abe’s cabinet reinterpreted the constitution to allow the military to co-operate with others, primarily the US, if its own security is threatened.
随着亚洲各地紧张局势加剧——例如在南中国海——修宪的关注点主要集中在第9条“放弃战争”。日本的军事决定日益受到其邻国实力崛起的影响。朝鲜发展核武器促使东京方面大举投资弹道导弹防御。中国海上触角越伸越长，令人关注日本是否准备好防卫其海域和岛屿。去年，安倍内阁重新解释了宪法，允许军方在自身安全受到威胁的情况下与盟军（主要是美国）合作。广州日语翻译公司。
Mr Abe’s push to revise the constitution is widely perceived as a way to free Japan’s Self-Defense Force from its postwar restrictions, but the debate is in fact about far more than this. Revising the constitution would equate to nothing less than weighing up the balance of forces that will sustain Japanese democracy throughout the 21st century.
安倍推动修宪被普遍认为是为了给日本自卫队解除战后限制的枷锁，但是实际上这场辩论的意义远不止于此。修宪将相当于重新调整力量平衡，面向整个21世纪为日本的民主体制保驾护航。
In 1947, the aim was to strip the aristocracy of its economic and political influence. One of the most progressive elements of the document was the establishment of rights for women.
1947年宪法意在剥夺贵族的经济和政治影响力。该文件中最进步的元素之一是确立妇女权利。
The state set up under the postwar constitution was a far cry from its predecessor. The version promulgated by the Emperor Meiji in 1889 [CHKD]created a state empowered to direct Japan’s modernisation — fusing economic, political and social power in the service of the national purpose, legitimised by an absolute monarchy. The later document decentralised power and divested the state of its military power.
根据和平宪法重建的国家体制与前身完全不同。1889年由明治天皇颁布的宪法缔造了一个带领日本迈向现代化的国家体制——集中经济、政治和社会力量，为国家目标服务，而这一切的合法性来自绝对君主制。和平宪法对权力进行了分散，剥夺了国家的军事力量。广州日语翻译公司。
Will a new constitution once again seek to mend the social compact? Or will leaders set their sights lower, tinkering, tweaking language or amending the 1947 blueprint of their democracy to meet today’s social needs? It is too early to tell. The committee to revise the constitution has catalogued the changes Japan’s political parties think could improve their founding document. The governing Liberal Democratic party has a draft to share, as Mr Abe pointed out after the election, a draft he says could serve as a basis for legislative discussion.
新版宪法会寻求再次修改这种社会契约吗？抑或日本领导人会降低期望值、在字面上稍作调整，或是修改1947年制定的民主蓝图以满足当今的社会需求？现在评判还为时过早。修宪委员会已经列出了日本各政党认为可以改进该国宪制文件的修改内容。正如安倍晋三在选举后所指出的那样，执政的自民党制定了自己的草案，安倍称该草案可以作为立法讨论的基础。
But it will take far more than the 242 legislators in the upper house — or even the roughly 700 in both houses — to determine what a new constitution might look like. Article 96 of the present document declares that two-thirds of all the members of each house of parliament must create a proposal for revision. After that, a national referendum must be held to gain approval.
但是，制定新宪法所需要的不仅是上院242名议员的支持——即使获得两院近700名议员的支持也不够。现行宪法第96条规定，上下两院各三分之二以上的议员必须拿出一份修订提议。之后必须由全民公投批准修订。
And the fact is that, while voters have created an opening for those who advocate revision, they seem deeply ambivalent about the prospect of tampering with the document that has supported their transition to democracy.
事实是，尽管选民们为那些提倡修宪的政客创造了一个切入点，但是他们似乎对修订曾经支持日本实现民主转型的宪法的前景深感矛盾。广州日语翻译公司。
Popular sovereignty brings agency to the people; it should not be abandoned easily. All the social institutions must claim a stake in the process and all citizens must take responsibility for the outcome. Revising simply for the sake of revising will only weaken confidence in Japan’s democracy, at home and abroad.
人民主权给人民带来能动性；它不应该被轻易抛弃。所有社会机构都应该参与这一过程，所有公民都必须对结果负起责任。为了修宪而修宪，只会削弱国内外对日本民主的信心。
The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
本文作者为美国外交事务委员会(Council on Foreign Relations)高级研究员
