Links
General Resources
国立国会図書館 National Diet Library
http://www.ndl.go.jp/
The National Diet Library's online database provides an extensive collection of books, periodicals, electronic resources, Japanese & Chinese old materials, doctoral dissertations, maps, and audiovisual materials. It also contains a database of Asian language books in Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Malaysian acquired in and after 1986. The website is especially suitable for researching documents regarding the constitution published in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The website is also available in English.
国立公文書館 National Archive of Japan デジタルアーカイブシステム
http://www.digital.archives.go.jp/index.html
This website contains an archive of official government documents as well as descriptions of books owned by the Cabinet Library. The website presents many digitized images of large-sized or colorful materials, including some images of Important Cultural Properties (重要文化財). It also contains a large number of documents in English.
法制史学会 法制史学会ホームページ Japan Legal History Association
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jalha/
This is an official website of the "Japan Legal History Association," an organization dedicated to promoting scholarly exchange among researchers of legal history. The website does not contain much information regarding constitutionalism but instead has a bibliography of constitution-related books that can be accessed by inputting "憲法" in its search bar.
国立国会図書館 帝国議会会議録検索システム
http://teikokugikai-i.ndl.go.jp/
The website has a search engine for Diet proceedings written between September 1946 and March 1948. It features debates among members of the Diet discussing Japan's postwar constitution. Users can conduct searches based on keywords, speaker's names, dates, and the House in which the proceedings were recorded. The proceedings are written in old Japanese. This website also contains links to 1) the Search Engine for Diet Proceedings, 2) the Search Engine for Japanese Ordinances, and 3) the National Diet Library's online exhibition, "Birth of the Constitution of Japan."
国立国会図書館 国会会議録検索システム
http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/
This website contains a search engine dedicated to Diet Proceedings. Users can search for proceedings made in and after May 1948 based on keywords, speaker's names, dates, and the House in which the proceedings were recorded. Users can search for comments regarding constitutional revision made, for example, by former Prime Minister Koizumi by inputting "小泉 (Koizumi)" in the speaker-column, and "憲法改正 (constitutional revision)" in the words-column. Statements made by Members of the Diet on a range of issues can be accessed easily.
国立国会図書館 資料に見る日本の近代 - 開国から講和まで100年の軌跡
http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/index.html
Modern Japan in Archives – 100-year history from the opening of the country to the San Francisco Peace Treaty
This website is part of the National Diet Library's online exhibition project and presents images of historically important documents and materials since the Meiji Restoration. The website is divided into five sections, corresponding to different periods of Japanese history from 1868 - 1945. In each section, the users are able to view materials pertaining to the constitution, such as the "Proposal for Drafting a [Meiji] Constitution (Rikkokukengi)" – written by Miyajima Seiichiro, who was the Sain legislator in 1872. The collections are small in quantity but of high quality. The website is easy to navigate and is also available in English.
国立国会図書館 日本国憲法の誕生
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/index.html
This online exhibition project, sponsored by the National Diet Library, focuses exclusively on the origin of the current constitution. It features brief descriptions and profiles of people and institutions that contributed to the establishment of the Constitution of Japan. It also provides a short introduction to each historical event that took place in 1946. The website has many high-resolution images of documents related to the birth of the current constitution. The website is easy to navigate and is also available in English.
松山大学法学部 田村譲 憲法関連のページ
http://www.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~tamura/KENNPOKANNRENN.htm
This is a personal website of Yuzuru Tamura, Professor of Law at Matsuyama University. It contains excerpts, summaries, and links to other websites that feature constitution-related topics. A large proportion of the website is, however, restricted in access to members of Matsuyama University.
衆議院 日本国憲法に関する調査特別委員会/憲法調査会
http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_kenpou.htm
(English:http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e_kenpou.htm)
This is the official website of 1) House of Representatives Research Commission on the Constitution (衆議院憲法調査会) and 2) Special Committee for Research on the Constitution of Japan (日本国憲法に関する調査特別委員会). The Research Commission of the Constitution was inaugurated in January 2000 to conduct a broad and comprehensive research on the Constitution. The website contains the Commission’s interim and final reports (in English, Chinese, and Koreans), speeches by the Chairman, Taro Nakayama, and a digest of comments made by the various members of the House of Representatives regarding different topics on the constitution. The Special Committee for Research on the Constitution of Japan was inaugurated in September 2005, partly as an extension of the Research Commission of the Constitution. The website provides a list of the members in the committee, as well as a digest of proceedings.
参議院憲法調査会
http://www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/kenpou/
This is the official website of the House of Councilors' Research Commission on the Constitution which was established in January 2000 to conduct broad and comprehensive research on the Constitution. The website contains final reports (only available in Japanese) made by the Commission, as well as a digest of proceedings.