Japanese PM revives push for constitutional reform talks as Hormuz risk looms

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TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged her ruling party to accelerate talks on constitutional reform – a move that could make her the first leader to achieve it, but which risks alienating voters if she is unable to generate broader public support.

“I hope that we can go into next year’s party congress saying that there is a clear prospect for initiating constitutional revision,” she said at a party meeting on April 12.

“Let us put our story and our vision of an ideal Japan into words and inscribe it onto a new page in the book of history.”

The comments came hours before US President Donald Trump escalated a stand-off in the Middle East on April 12 with a post on his Truth Social platform warning that the US would begin a full naval blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The development puts Japan in an even more difficult position as it seeks to secure its energy interests in the region while also maintaining good ties with the US.

Ms Takaichi has so far declined to send ships to the strait, explaining to Mr Trump that her hands are tied because of provisions in the Constitution that limit Japan’s ability to get involved in overseas conflicts when it is not under direct attack.

Those legal restraints have helped her avoid being pulled into a war that is highly unpopular with the Japanese public and has no UN backing. Mr Trump has at times aired his frustrations over Japan’s distance, while directing most of his ire at Europe and NATO.

Although Ms Takaichi did not specify which clause of the Constitution she wanted to see revised, or how, she has long been an advocate for developing a more assertive and independent Japan, both economically and diplomatically. 

“Seventy years on, we must ask ourselves, have we been able to restore the autonomous independence that we aspired to achieve at the time of this party’s founding?” Ms Takaichi said in her speech on April 12. 

Despite her enthusiasm for constitutional revision, the road towards actually realising reforms is a long one. Proposals for constitutional revision must be backed by two-thirds of lawmakers in both the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament before being voted on in a nationwide referendum.

Ms Takaichi’s party holds a supermajority in the more powerful Lower House. She remains popular among the public, with some polls showing her approval ratings register above 70 per cent. Still, she lacks a majority in the Upper House, meaning a move to revise the Constitution could fail before reaching a public vote. 

In a poll conducted by broadcaster JNN earlier in April, 45 per cent of respondents said they thought Japan should not send the Self-Defense Forces to the Hormuz Strait.

While 70 per cent approved of the government’s measures to counter rising fuel costs by providing subsidies to keep petrol prices at about 170 yen (S$1.40) per litre, 74 per cent were concerned about future energy supply. BLOOMBERG