An Upper House panel reopened debate Wednesday on revising the Constitution — a move seen as an essential step in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's quest to amend the charter for the first time since World War II's end.
The debate was the first time substantial discussions had taken place at a government panel on the Constitution since Abe's Liberal Democratic Party rolled to victory in the July Upper House election. That poll win gave the ruling bloc and other pro-revision forces enough seats in both houses of the Diet to propose changes.
Still, the LDP and the main opposition Democratic Party remain far apart on the immediate need to advance discussions on constitutional revisions.