Abe's amendments should raise alarm

It's alarming that revision of Japan's Constitution is back on the agenda for the Abe administration.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared during a Japanese TV program on March 9, that the war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution should be revised so that Japan can participate in collective military action authorized by the United Nations Charter.

Abe also reaffirmed his intention to prioritize a revision of Article 96 to ease the current requirements for enacting constitutional amendments. This article stipulates that revisions of the constitution must be initiated by at least a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the Diet, Japan's bicameral legislature.