The Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling bloc is expected to agree that the Cabinet should be allowed to approve Self-Defense Forces deployments by phone to speed up responses to "gray zone" national security incidents, a senior source in the administration said.
With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushing for a "seamless" manner to respond to security threats, the ruling coalition began talks on security-related legislation on Friday.
"Gray zone incidents" refer to national security threats that stop short of full military attacks. One example the government uses is a scenario in which an armed group disguised as fishermen takes control of a remote Japanese island.