KIMURA Mutsuo

木村睦男

Mutsuo Kimura (born in 1913) was a bureaucrat and politician who served as Minister of Transport (1974-1976) and 
President of the House of Councillors (1983-986). Belonging to the LDP, he served in the House of Councillors from 1965 to 1989. Aiming for constitutional revision, he pushed nation-wide constitutional discussion as Chairperson of a pro-constitutional revision group, Jishu Kenpō Seitei Kokumin Kaigi (自主憲法制定国民会議), currently nemed Atarashii Kenpō o Tsukuru Kokumin Kaigi (新しい憲法をつくる国民会議), which was associated with a pro-constitutional revision group of concervative lawmakers, Jishu Kenpō Kisei Giin Dōmei (自主憲法期成議員同盟), currently named Shinkenpō Seitei Giin Dōmei (新憲法制定議員同盟). Kimura died at 88 in December 2001. 

Kimura personally published a constitutional draft in 1996. The draft specifies that Japan maintains its own Self-Defense Army (自衛軍) and that the army would participate in UN  collective self-defense operations overseas. The draft contains a new Emergency Clause stipulating that the cabinet would temporarily have power to make political decisions by itself while the Diet sessions are closed; the decisions would need to be approved by the Diet after the sessions start. Other proposals in the draft include establishment of the Constitutional Court and legislations on new human rights such as the right to privacy and the right to know as well.