Junior ruling coalition partner Komeito on Thursday backed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to postpone the consumption tax hike for two years in a set of campaign pledges announced ahead of the July 10 Upper House poll.
But Komeito, which rules with Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, was mute on the controversial issue of amending the Constitution, in a shift away from pledges made before the 2013 Upper House and 2014 Lower House elections supporting the move.
Back then, Komeito called constitutional revision one of the "important political issues," and proposed "adding" new ideas and clauses to the Constitution such as the right of Japanese citizens to a healthy, natural environment.