Hello, I am Makoto ITO. By introducing my activities on this website, I would like everyone in Japan and, of course, all over the world to get aquainted with "Makoto ITO" and with the values of the Japanese Constitution, which I cherish the most.

I am the headmaster and a teacher of legal studies at "Itojuku", a private preparatory school for legal qualification and civil-service exams. I have been teaching law for over 30 years after successfully passing the bar examination. First, let me tell you how I met Article 13 of the Japanese Constitution, which led me to start teaching law.

When I was a university student, one of my friends, who was an American journalist, asked me: "Tell me, what is the most important thing about the Japanese Constitution?". Since the elementary school I remembered the three principles -- 'sovereignty of the people', 'respect for fundamental human rights' and 'pacifism', enshrined in the Japanese Constitution. Without knowing them, one would definitely fail a school test on Constitutional Law. That is why I told him about these three principles.

However, he persisted: "I do not need three answers, I need one." I tried to make them into one, by changing their order or pronouncing them quickly, but at the end I could not answer his question. Then, he yelled at me: "What? You cannot tell the most important point of Japanese Constitution in a single phrase? And you really call yourself a Japanese?" His words acted on me as a trigger -- after being treated like that, I returned home, took out my books on Japanese Constitution and did some research.

Surprisingly, whatever book I opened, they all had something written about the most important thing of the Japanese Constitution. It was Article 13: "Respect of the individual". It forms the foundation of the three principles -- 'sovereignty of the people', 'respect for fundamental human rights' and 'pacifism'. Triggered by the harsh words of my American friend, I studied the Constitution as hard as I could, so we can say that he was the 'big benefactor' to my studies.

The expression 'respect for the individual' has two meanings that appear contradictory: 'all people are the same' and 'all people are different'.

All people are the same in that they are all respected as individuals. In other words, there is no difference between people in the value of their life as humans. At the same time, the individuality is respected. In other words, by the fact that all people are different, just because there is no person like another person, the existence of each and every person is priceless.

Now let me tell another old story.

Because of my father's job, I lived in Germany during my junior high school years. From inside the plane heading to Germany, when flying right over Europe, it was very surprising for me, then a junior high student, to see no borderlines between countries. On all maps that I had seen until that time there were borderlines drawn between countries, so I thought that these lines actually existed. However, there were no actual lines. They are some invisible borders made by people.

I do not like being bound by borders. Currently, various conflicts arise all over the world, but the origin of the conflicts lies in the disputes between people surrounded by such invisible man-made borders like race, ethnicity, religion, country etc. I hope for a world that is not bound by such borders.

There are various people in the world. Regardless of their country or race, some people are good, and some people are bad. Some people have black skin, and some are white. Each and every individual has a different life, and no person has the same life as another person.

By spreading the idea of "respect for the individual" that values each and every person, the world will become more peaceful; the conflicts between people bound by borders will disappear; there will be a society where children live with a smile. This is what I believe.

Having learned the beauty of the Constitution and being determined to widely spread it in the society, I decided to take the legal profession. And in order to educate lawyers and government officials to know the "value of the Constitution" and would realize its philosophy, I decided to become a teacher of law.

Currently, by teaching law at Itojuku as a school principal, performing litigation activities as a lawyer, writing, holding public lectures and doing other activities, I am pursuing the realization of "Constitutional value".

I hope that my ideas will strike a sympathetic cord in a growing number of people.