Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is drawing closer to the Osaka faction of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) and its allies as concerns about the health of Shintaro Ishihara, 80, head of the party's Diet faction, mount and Nippon Ishin members look to the July Upper House election.
On Saturday, Abe, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga met with Nippon Ishin Diet members Hiroshi Nakata and Hiroshi Yamada in Tokyo to discuss cooperation on revising Article 96 of the Constitution to reduce the number of Diet votes needed for constitutional revision from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority.
Abe sees this as the first step to revising Article 9, the no-war clause.