Japan out to amend pacifist constitution

Fresh calls for constitutional amendment have got louder in Japan, with political parties proffering their own suggestions in the first six months of the year.

While Japan is interested in changing its constitutional interpretation of use of force, the United States has been pushing it to do so to fulfill its own vested interests.

A committee under the Japanese Prime Minister's office drafted a reform plan, calling for amendment to the constitutional interpretation that permits collective self-defense. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has been reluctant to do so, though the conservative Liberal Democratic Party has been raving about a change in the interpretation of or amendment to the constitution along those lines.