More than 80pc in Japan back enshrining Self-Defense Forces in constitution: Kyodo poll

More than 80 percent of Japanese respondents support revising the country's pacifist constitution to explicitly mention the Self-Defense Forces, a Kyodo News survey showed.

The poll, conducted on February 11, received responses from 403 of 465 people surveyed. Some 81.1 percent said they either "tend to support" or "support" adding the SDF to Article 9 of the Constitution, while 9.4 percent opposed.

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae pledged to push for constitutional revision in her first press conference after the recent general election, describing it as an "important challenge focusing on the nation's future." The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin, both supportive of revising Article 9, secured more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats in the election.

Article 9, enacted after World War II, renounces war as a sovereign right and prohibits the maintenance of war potential. Whether to revise it has long been one of the most contentious political issues in Japan.

Under current procedures, constitutional amendments require a bill submitted to the Diet, approval by at least two-thirds of members in both chambers, and a majority in a national referendum.