TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that he wants to start the process of revising Japan’s Constitution as early as next year, according to a senior lawmaker quoted in newspapers Thursday, giving the clearest indication yet that he will seek to change a document that has undergirded the country’s postwar pacifism.
Mr. Abe told a group of supporters on Wednesday that he wanted to begin the difficult political task of amending the Constitution after elections for the upper house of Parliament, scheduled for the summer of 2016, according to The Asahi Shimbun and The Sankei Shimbun. Both newspapers cited the head of the group, Hajime Funada, a senior lawmaker with Mr. Abe’s party, the Liberal Democrats, as their source.
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It remains unclear whether the shock of the killings will swing the Japanese public in favor of Mr. Abe’s harder line or against it. Since the murders, opposition politicians have stepped up attacks on the prime minister, accusing him of provoking the Islamic State by allying Japan more closely with the United States-led efforts to destroy the militant group. Just days before the ransom demand appeared, Mr. Abe had pledged the same sum of $200 million in nonmilitary aid to countries in the region confronting the Islamic State.
However, the crisis has also appeared to unify Japan in anger at the militants. On Thursday, the lower house of Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the killings and calling for increased coordination with the global community to combat terrorism.
