Defiant Abe pledges to change pacifist charter

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday vowed to press on with his controversial move to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, undeterred by a political scandal that has dented his popularity.

Abe's political capital is dwindling due to a widening scandal over the cut-price sale of government land to one of his supporters, with the opposition suggesting his wife Akie may have played a role.

The scandal worsened when finance ministry bureaucrats admitted altering official records of the sales, erasing references to Abe and his wife as well as other political figures.

Abe has denied any involvement by him or his wife in the case but protesters have staged rallies across the nation.

Despite his fading popularity, Abe told the party gathering he was committed to changing the constitution, imposed by the United States on the defeated nation after World War II.

Abe said he wants to end the debate over the constitutionality of Japan's military, officially known as the Self-Defence Forces (SDF). The constitution says Japan renounces war and will not maintain land, sea or air forces.

Scholars have long argued about whether the existence of the SDF is constitutional.

Abe, however, in 2015 expanded the role of the Japanese forces to include the defence of friendly nations, prompting protests from scholars and voters alike that the change violated the constitution.

His conservative coalition holds a two-thirds "super majority" in the 465-seat lower house, giving him the numbers to realise his long-held dream.

National attention is turning to parliamentary testimony scheduled for Tuesday by Nobuhisa Sagawa, formerly the head of the finance ministry department that oversaw the land deal.