Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday he wants his Liberal Democratic Party to submit proposals on changing Japan's Constitution for discussion during an extraordinary Diet session likely to be convened in the fall.
"I expect LDP proposals to be submitted at the Constitution commissions of the upper and lower houses before the extra Diet session ends," Abe said in a speech in Kobe, indicating his eagerness to step up discussion within the ruling party to realize the first-ever amendment of the country's postwar Constitution.
Abe, who doubles as LDP president, has set a year-end deadline for the LDP to devise its amendment proposals and it had been widely believed the party would seek to present them to the Constitution commissions in the regular Diet session to be convened early next year.
But the prime minister's latest remarks mean that the party may have to finish drawing up its proposals earlier than initially thought, depending on the length of the extraordinary Diet session.
A senior LDP member said, "We need to somewhat speed up the work."
The Japanese Communist Party reacted coldly, with party chief Kazuo Shii saying that what Abe needs to do now is satisfactorily address the allegations of favoritism leveled against him and the government over a school opening project, rather than rolling out a new schedule on constitutional reform.
The Abe Cabinet support rate has dropped sharply recently, with many members of the public unsatisfied with the government explanation over the latest controversy -- the selection of Kake Educational Institution, run by Abe's friend, to open a new veterinary medicine school in a specially deregulated economic zone in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.
In his speech Saturday, Abe again denied any wrongdoing over the matter, saying "the process was clear and serene."
He also said the government plans to encourage the establishment of more veterinary schools around the nation, saying the decision to approve just a single new one so far stirred doubts over the process.
"We don't have to limit it to the city of Imabari (in Ehime Prefecture). We will quickly seek a nationwide move," Abe said.
On constitutional amendments, the LDP has already started discussing within the party amending the war-renouncing Article 9. Abe has proposed adding a reference to the Self-Defense Forces to clearly legitimatize their existence in the supreme law.
The LDP also sees the expansion of educational opportunities through cost-free education as another area of consideration for a constitutional change.
Abe said in the speech that discussing the future of education is "an extremely important topic" that should be dealt with in connection with constitutional amendments.
Abe has a golden opportunity to push for his cherished goal of rewriting the Constitution, drafted under the strong influence of the United States after World War II, as Abe's LDP and other pro-amendment forces have secured the required two-thirds of seats in each of the two Diet chambers.
A majority of the Japanese people must also approve any proposed amendment to the constitution in a referendum.
The current Constitution has never been revised since it went into effect in 1947, nor has a bid been made to initiate a formal amendment process, partly because of the high hurdle in proposing an amendment in parliament before it can be put to a referendum.
Abe has said he hopes the revised supreme law will be put into force in 2020, when Japan will host the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.
Achieving the politically sensitive goal requires careful planning, with two major national elections upcoming -- the House of Representatives election by December 2018 at the latest and the House of Councillors election in the summer of 2019.
