Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a debate program Sunday that his ruling Liberal Democratic Party is open to modifying its plans to revise the war-renouncing Constitution — one of the conservative party's long-held goals.
"If there are suggestions for changing the LDP's draft (on constitutional revision), we will naturally take them into consideration because politicians need to face reality," Abe said on an NHK policy debate program involving major party leaders.
In a draft unveiled in April last year, the LDP proposed renaming the Self-Defense Forces to the more military-sounding National Defense Force (kokubo-gun), allowing the emperor to be named head of state instead of symbol of the state, and relaxing the rules for initiating constitutional amendments.