Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Sunday expressed eagerness for an early amendment to Japan’s pacifist Constitution, as the conservative leader, known for her hawkish security views, aims to stipulate the existence of the Self-Defense Forces in what would be the first revision to the supreme law.
“The time has come” to reform the Constitution, Takaichi said in a speech at the annual convention of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo. “We would like to hold next year’s conference with a proposal for a constitutional amendment in sight,” she added.
Takaichi, however, did not elaborate on proposed constitutional changes, particularly to Article 9, which renounces war and prohibits Japan from possessing military forces or other “war potential,” at the party’s first annual event since becoming LDP leader and prime minister in October.
The LDP also approved its 2026 campaign policy, which aims to submit a draft revised Constitution to parliament by establishing drafting committees within relevant commissions in both houses of the Diet.
The gathering took place as the coalition of the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party seeks to leverage its landslide victory in the House of Representatives election on Feb. 8 to push for a constitutional amendment.
The ruling camp secured more than three-quarters of the lower house’s 465 seats amid Takaichi’s high popularity, well above the two-thirds threshold required to put any constitutional revision to a national referendum.
However, in the House of Councillors, where a two-thirds majority is also needed, the ruling bloc remains in the minority, though some opposition parties support constitutional reform.
The high procedural hurdle for revising the Constitution, along with a divided public, has left the supreme law, drafted by the U.S.-led occupation forces after World War II, unchanged since 1947.
The JIP, known as Nippon Ishin, is pushing for the more radical step of allowing the full exercise of the right of collective self-defense, a move likely to draw backlash from Asian neighbors.
Adding an emergency clause to give the government more power in the event of a major disaster or armed attack is among the other focal points of constitutional reform.
In her speech, Takaichi also stressed the need to revise the 1947 Imperial House Law to secure enough imperial family members for stable succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, while maintaining the male line that she said underpins “the emperor’s legitimacy.”
Amid concerns that the number of imperial family members will continue to decline, plans under discussion include allowing current imperial family members to adopt male-line descendants of former imperial branches to restore their imperial status.
The current law limits succession to males in the male line of descent from emperors and requires female members to leave the imperial family upon marriage to a commoner.
Among the guests at the convention were JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura and Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, Japan’s biggest business lobby.
Yoshimura pledged to achieve policy goals together with the LDP under a coalition deal concluded in October, including suspending the 8 percent consumption tax on food products for two years, reducing lower house seats by 10 percent and amending the Constitution.
“Voters are watching whether the coalition agreement will be truly carried out,” Yoshimura said.
© KYODO
