Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for an expanded role for the military.
The ruling conservative party has long advocated revision but been unable to sway public opinion. Now Abe is proposing that the government reinterpret the constitution to give the military more prominence without having to win public approval for the revisions.
His push, backed by the U.S. which wants Japan to bear a greater burden of its own defense, has upset the liberals who see it as undermining the constitution and democratic processes.
Hundreds of people gathered at a Tokyo rally commemorating Constitution Day, a national holiday.
``We citizens must stand up, take action and raise our voice to stop Abe, or this country could return to a Japan that wages war with Asia as it has done before,'' said protest organizer Ken Takada said.
Written under U.S. direction after World War II, the 1947 constitution says the Japanese people ``forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation,'' and that ``land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.''
That ban has been relaxed over the years with U.S. encouragement as the Cold War unfolded and America sought allies in Asia, allowing Japan to have a military to defend itself, dubbed a Self-Defense Force.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has long denounced the postwar constitution as one imposed by the U.S., which occupied Japan from the end of World War II until 1952. Abe's grandfather and role model Nobusuke Kishi _ who was arrested as a suspected war criminal but never charged and later became prime minister _ was among vocal opponents of the constitution.
Abe advocates a ``breakaway from the postwar regime'' as a way to overcome the humiliation as well as the education system, social values and historical views set by the occupation.
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