During a Lower House budget committee debate on May 8, Akira Nagatsuma of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to clarify remarks he had recently made about revising the Constitution. On May 3, which happened to be Constitution Day, Abe had delivered a message via prerecorded video to the conservative lobbying group Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) and also appeared in an interview in the Yomiuri Shimbun. In both he talked of establishing the Self-Defense Forces and free education in the Constitution, and Nagatsuma wanted to know more. Abe dismissed his query, saying he explained the matter to the Yomiuri so Nagatsuma should just read the interview.