Japanese national referendum, 1946 (Myomi Republic)

The Japanese referendum for the Change of Official Name of Japan was held on September 7, 1946 to asks whether the citizens of Japan approved of the constitutional amendment of 1931 Constitution to change the official native name of Japan from "Nippon" to "Myomi".

Background
After the World War II, the term of “Nihon/Nippon” (日本) as official native name of Japan seem obsolete by most of Japanese and became synonymous with the Fascist Japan rule in East and South East Asia. Several national movements to change the name of Japan quickly emerged among the citizens. The most influential one among those movements was the “Movement for Name Reformation” (名前の変化運動 Namae no henka Undō) abbreviated as Maedo (前動), led by Toyohiko Kagawa, the social activist, prominent pacifist and leader of Christian People’s Party.

Maedo proposed for change the name of Japan from official “Nippon” to unofficial “Myomi”, the name of village where the Imperial Army declared surrender to the Revolutionary Army in 1930. However, “Myomi” (妙味) which means as “charm/magic” in Japanese seem not suitable for become a new identity of the nation by the old conservative leaders

In April 8, 1946, Central Bureau of Maedo convened the meeting in Gifu to discussed about the name change of Japan. Sazuhiko Yuzawa, the language professor from Tokyo University suggested Maedo to write the name of “Myomi” with ateji.

There are three proposals by Yuzawa for how to write “Myomi” in kanji characters:


 * 明美 (use of Go’on reading for ”明”, which means “light”, “bright” or “brilliant” and On’yomi reading of “美”, which means “beautiful”)


 * 明水 (use of Go’on reading for ”明”, which means “light”, “bright” or “brilliant”. “水” is the kanji character for “water” and one of its Nanori is “Mi”)


 * 命三 (use of On’yomi reading for “命”, which means “life” and Kun’yomi reading of “三”, which means “three”)

The Central Bureau of Maedo choose Yuzawa’s second proposal which can make “Myomi” more phono-semantic suitable. “Myomi” in those character can literally read as “the bright water (of the Pacific Ocean)”, a reference for Japan status as an archipelagic nation.

Maedo then submitted the proposal of “Myomi” as the part of constitutional amendment to the Legislative Council of Japan in April 21, 1946. Four parties member of National Front (Constitutional, Social Democratic, Buddhist Association and Christian Party) openly supported the proposal, while the Nationalist Party still divided about those issue.

The lengthy debates occurred on the Legislative Council session between April 23 and May 29, 1946. Several conservative hard-liners, such as Maruyama Hiroshi refused the change of name of Japan because they considered the idea will ruin the Japanese cultural identity. The President of the Republic of Japan, Nagayama Yoshida even attended the Council session to give his response about the “Myomi Question” in April 12, 1946.

In May 30, 1946, the voting finally held in Legislative Council with the result 237 to approve and 67 to reject the name change proposal to be submit into the National Congress as the part of constitutional amendment. In its session on June 4, 1946, the National Congress decided to will approve the change of name of Japan through the popular referendum which will be held in United States military-occupied territories on September 7, 1946.

The intensive campaigns for support the change of name organized by Maedo. Some of Maedo campaigns carried out comprehensively and very organized. Newspaper and radio broadcast became effective media for Maedo. Several religious leaders fully mobilized to explain the meaning of the characters of “Myomi” both in nationalistic and religious interpretations, as most of Maedo members is from National Buddhist Association and Christian People’s Party.

The photograph of President Yoshida even used in campaigns to demonstrate the change of name as the part of 1925 Revolution as most of Japanese peoples still honored Dr. Yoshida as the Grand-fatherly figure of the nation and the symbol of Revolutionary spirit.

Results
In the ballots, the voters were asked:

“Do you solemnly approve to change of name of our country from ‘Nippon’ to ‘Myomi’?”

Voter turnout was 67,4%