The following is from the serial column of Masayuki Takayama, who brings the weekly Shincho on sale to a successful conclusion.
This article also proves that he is the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
A Constitution that Discriminates
Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was also very concerned about national defense.
The most powerful country in the vicinity was Japan.
That's why Zhu Yuanzhang himself ordered in a written document that the Japanese should be careful not to leak the manufacturing method of bronze artillery while improving the latest weaponry.
However, there was a problem with the key ingredient, gunpowder. There were charcoal and nitrites as raw materials, but no sulfur in China, where there were no volcanoes.
Japan had plenty. Trading was one idea, but then the Japanese would probably wonder why they wanted sulfur so badly.
So Zhu Yuanzhang turned his attention to the Ryukyu Islands. There was a volcanic island north of Okinawa that produced inexhaustible amounts of sulfur.
The emperor sent 36 Chinese to Ryukyu to help him produce sulfur as a tribute, and in return, they gave the king huge sums of money and treasures.
The king was overjoyed and treated the Chinese well. These were the "36 Kume family names".
When the dynasty died out, the Chinese came to power and dominated Okinawa's political and business world.
Former governor Hirokazu Nakaima is one of their descendants.
Some Okinawans began to bow down to them. Onaga Takeshi, who was mayor of Naha at the time, was one of them.
He offered Matsuyama Park's site as a site for the "Shiseibyō," where the descendants would worship their ancestors.
The annual land rent of six million yen was, of course, waived.
The citizens were angry. Why is the city supporting a Chinese temple?
They claimed that this was a violation of Article 20 of the Constitution, which stipulates that it should give no money to any religion.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that it was unconstitutional.
This may seem like a foregone conclusion, but the fact is that this was a major shock to the religious community.
No one talks about it, but they know that MacArthur wrote the Japanese Constitution.
Everyone knows that the "any religion" in Article 20 refers only to Shinto and not to other religions, as MacArthur intended.
In fact, MacArthur himself called 1,500 missionaries with the Japanese government money to spread Christianity.
He also had the government provide the land for International Christian University.
Nagasaki's city turned Botenren's execution into a municipal park and decorated it with 26 statues of saints.
The then Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, a great admirer of Nichiren, ordered Daisaku Ikeda to be treated as a guest of honor by various countries through the Japanese Embassy when he visited Asia.
The government bore the cost.
All of them are examples of "the national and local governments providing convenience to a specific religion," but Article 20 of the Constitution is a "Shinto destruction clause."
Other religions have been able to get away with it without anyone complaining.
The judge felt the same way. He has even said so in court.
The Minoh monument to the loyal dead lawsuit in 1976 is a good example.
The city moved the monument, which enshrines 300 Minoh citizens who died in the war, to a different location with public funds. The city even went along with the memorial service.
Christians in the city sued, claiming that this was unconstitutional.
At the first trial, Osaka District Court Judge Kosaki Yoshinaga, a Christian himself, made a hostile comment that "the monument to the loyal dead is a tool of militarism that glorifies dying in loyalty to the emperor.
He also accused the Japanese of being extremely unscrupulous in religion and stated the reason that "for the separation of church and state as stated in the new constitution to take root, (the attitude of Shinto must be wicked)"
He decided that it was unconstitutional.
He also ruled that the mayor involved would be fined with a very high punitive fine.
It was a narrow and brutal sentence, typical of Christians.
The Supreme Court said that there are no exceptions to "any religion.
This came as a shock to the monks.
Because the Catholic organizations that made the government invite the Pope and made a lot of money from the donations can no longer hope to try to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
To make this decision, the Supreme Court held a major court session.
Fourteen out of the fifteen justices changed their previous interpretation that only Shinto should be tormented, but I wish they had gone one step further.
This is the legislative intent of Article 20. There is clearly a recommendation for discrimination and torment there. How bizarre.
It can clearly see in the preamble's renunciation of national independence and the Emperor's symbol clause.
That constitution is a mass of malice.
I wish one of you had argued on the side that it would be a good idea to stop it.
