A worrying move by Abe

The appointment of Ichiro Komatsu as head of Japan's Cabinet Legislation Bureau on Friday drove home the message that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is targeting the country's pacifist Constitution.

The appointment of a diplomat to the position is unusual as it is customary for the bureau's deputy director-general to become the director-general.

However, Abe wants to push forward the lifting of the Constitutional restraints on the right to exercise collective self-defense, and by making his supporter Komatsu the head of the bureau that examines legislative bills and offers legal advice to Japanese cabinet members, he aims to lay the groundwork for a bill to revise the Constitution.