Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's initiative to lift Japan's self-imposed ban on engaging in collective self-defense may not gain public support, New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi suggested Thursday.

It takes both perseverance and ability on the part of politicians to gain the public's acceptance of such a goal, "and this will not be easy," Yamaguchi said in an interview with Kyodo News.

"Opinion polls show the public is cautious" about Japan exercising the right to collective self-defense, which has been defined as defending an ally under armed attack, said the leader of New Komeito, the pacifist, Buddhist-backed junior partner in Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc.