CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN

The current Japanese Constitution (in Japanese nihonkoku kempo) was drafted by the largely American occupation administration (SCAP) and promulgated in May 1947. It has several Articles which refer to religion. Article 14 prohibits discrimination on grounds of creed, Article 19 says that 'freedom of thought and conscience shall not be violated' and article 89 forbids the use of public funds for any religious purposes not under public control. Article 20 guarantees both freedom of religion and separation of church and state. The Constitution's view that freedom of religion implies complete separation of religion and state was intended to eradicate any vestiges of 'state Shinto' (kokka shinto) and has given rise to complex legal debates about the involvement of public officials in postwar Shinto, mostly centred on the status of theYasukuni Jinja. See also theShukyo Hojin HoandMeiji Constitution.