Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday urged members of his Liberal Democratic Party intensify their efforts in the new year to bring amendments to Japan's pacifist Constitution, calling the country's supreme law a product of its postwar occupation.
Touching on the history of his party, formed in 1955 through a merger of conservative forces, Abe said, "The reasoning for the merger was to achieve economic growth and to change the Constitution, created during the occupation, and other various systems on a stable political foundation."
He also said in a meeting held at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo that it is "a historic mission to think about and discuss the ideal shape of a country that fits with the times."