A House of Councilors panel on the Constitution endorsed a final report Wednesday that cites the need to revise the supreme law to ensure new human rights concepts and agrees a female should be allowed to ascend the Imperial throne, but fails to declare a consensus on amending the war-renouncing Article 9.
The report by the 45-member Upper House Research Commission on the Constitution included conflicting arguments over the contentious issue of revising Article 9.
The 300-page report followed a similar document issued Friday by a House of Representatives counterpart panel. Both reports by the two chambers wrapped up five years of discussions since they were launched in January 2000.