Opposition may not be able to stop Abe from amending Constitution

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER Shinzo Abe expressed his resolve to realize constitutional amendments during his tenure before a meeting of the House of Councilors Budget Committee on Wednesday. He also noted it will be difficult for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party alone to secure the two-thirds support needed in both chambers of the Diet to enable the constitutional revisions. However, the opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Restoration party, are unlikely to stop the amendments being passed, said china.com on Thursday:

Even if successfully forged, a coalition of Japan's two main opposition parties, has little chance of stopping Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, because many Japanese voters have lost their faith in them. The former ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which lost to the LDP in 2012, is falling apart and can hardly make a difference in the Japanese Diet.

More, nationalism, even militarism, have made easy inroads into the country. It is noteworthy that an increasing number of Japanese citizens endorse, or are not opposed to, Abe's ambition to revise Japan's so-called pacifist Constitution. This might not help the opposition parties reclaim the ground they have lost in the Japanese political arena.