Japan is now in a state of what Bruce Ackerman called “constitutional politics“. In past five years, the ruling coalition of PM Shinzo Abe’s LDP and Komeito has won all national elections and secured supermajority in both houses of the Diet, thus meeting the requirement of proposing amendment to the Constitution. The Prime Minister has said he is expecting to see a referendum for constitutional amendment in 2019. This panel will not follow the routine that keeps focusing on Art 9 issue. Instead, its aim is to give non-Japanese colleagues a bigger picture of not only disfunction of the Japanese constitution, but also radical departure from rule of law in the Abe years (Dec 2012–present). Presenters will discuss the twilight of the postwar constitution from different aspects.