Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will use Constitution Day to issue a statement Thursday repeating his call to revise the nation's charter, saying Japan can no longer overhaul its administrative system, or central-local government relations or the basic framework for foreign and security policies unless it does so.
"We face the need to review the Constitution," Abe will say in the statement, released early to the press. This year is the 60th anniversary of the charter's coming into force.
Abe's comments are in sharp contrast to the 1997 statement by the late Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on the Constitution's 50th anniversary. Hashimoto promised Japan would be committed to making "active contributions to the peace and prosperity of the international community under the philosophy of the Constitution."