Earlier this year, I highlighted a troubling trend in many countries around the world — the move toward illiberal government and away from human rights. Unfortunately, Japan is catching the bug.
This might seem like a strange claim. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has implemented some liberal policies, such as a push for equality for working women, and he has championed increased immigration. Japan's society has, in general, become more liberal in recent decades, for example by implementing trial by jury. Furthermore, the country recently repealed a long-standing ban on dancing in clubs.
But all this could become largely irrelevant if Abe's party changes the nation's Constitution in the ways that it wants.