E.H. Norman, Canada and Japan's postwar constitution

E.H. Norman, a historian and Canadian diplomat posted to Japan during most of the Occupation, was intimately involved with the crafting of Japan's pos twar constitution. His views on the constitution and the monarchy first dev eloped as part of his responsibilities as an analyst with Canadian intellig ence during the war. They further evolved after he was seconded to MacArthu r's staff in the fall of 1945 and during his subsequent tenure as Canada's main representative to the Far Eastern Commission. There he played a leadin g role in the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee. This article exam ines Norman's views on the constitution and the Emperor as they evolved in the 1943-1950 period. It suggests that Norman's views on the constitutional process differed radically from those of General MacArthur but that in the end, the Canadian government declined to challenge U.S. hegemony over Occu pation policy. Thus Norman no longer pursued the agenda he had laid out and instead accepted the reformed monarchy and the constitution as the lesser of evils. The origins of Japan's postwar constitution have come under scrut iny as constitutional research commissions in both the upper and lower hous es of Japan's Diet investigate the postwar constitution with an eye to revi sing it within the next five.