TOKYO, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to pass a referendum bill in the upcoming regular Diet (parliament) session, a Japanese newspaper said Thursday.
The Asahi Shumbun described Abe's move as part of efforts to revise the Pacifist Constitution which is strictly constraining Japan's military activities.
"We shall work on amending the constitution by getting back to the principles on which the party was founded," Abe said at the Liberal Democratic Party's annual convention in a Tokyo hotel Wednesday.
"I hope to further discussion with other parties over a referendum bill, which is a legal procedure (needed for constitutional revision)," he said.
Abe, who took office in late September, has vowed to revise the Pacifist Constitution, which was drafted by the Americans during their occupation of the country after World War II, with a view to turn Japan into a nation that can wage war.
