Considering "The Shape of This Nation" from the Perspective of the History of Political Thought

More than 150 years have passed since the Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end, the Meiji government was established, and Japan began its journey toward becoming a modern state.

The core elements of modern Japanese politics, such as the constitution, the parliament, and the cabinet system, were conceived and realized in a short period thereafter. "The Shape of This Nation" is the title of an essay by the author Ryotaro Shiba, but the word "Constitution," generally translated as "Kenpo" in Japanese, originally also carries meanings such as "composition," "structure," and "formation." From this perspective, the construction of the Meiji state can be seen as a design process for the entire governing structure—refining the structure of the nation with the "constitution" in the narrow sense as its axis.

The representative designer on the government side who demonstrated his skill was Hirobumi Ito, who became the first Prime Minister. Feeling the need to organize the administrative machinery prior to the enactment of the constitution, Ito introduced the cabinet system, established the university system to provide intellectual resources to the government while training the bureaucrats who would support the cabinet, and after the enactment of the constitution, opened the Imperial Diet, aiming for the gradual realization of party politics. In the private sector, Yukichi Fukuzawa, the founder of Keio University, aimed for the realization of a constitutional state and advocated for the introduction of a parliamentary cabinet system, a two-party system, and a party cabinet system based on the British model. He positioned the Juku as an educational institution to cultivate the human resources to support these systems, and established and operated Kojunsha as an intellectual salon and the "Jiji Shimpō" as an "impartial" newspaper.

Currently, the G7, known as the advanced nations, consists of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan; Japan is the only non-Western country. Even in the modern era from the Meiji period to the pre-World War II Showa period, the fact that Japan achieved civilization in a short period and defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War gave a great shock and dreams to people around the world, especially those in the colonies of Western powers. Even today, for these countries, the Meiji state-building, the economic recovery after World War II, and furthermore, the reconstruction of disaster-stricken areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake serve as valuable examples of national development and reconstruction for non-Western countries. As a researcher of the history of Japanese political thought, I must also respond to their questions and requests.

When we talk about constitutional reform, we tend to get caught up in amending specific articles, such as the pros and cons of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan. However, what is needed now is the visionary power and the ability to realize a "Constitution" in the broad sense—that is, designing "the shape of this nation." Political science is a discipline that deals with these issues head-on, and we researchers who analyze Japanese politics from a historical perspective wish to hone these abilities together with students and contribute to society together.

(Published: April 2026)