67% oppose changing pacifist Article 9, survey finds

Sixty-seven percent of voters are opposed to altering war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed, as the public sheds the view that constitutional amendments will resolve problems in daily life.

Opponents of rewriting Article 9 far outnumbered the 24 percent of the respondents who are calling for a change, according to the survey.

Seventy percent of those polled said the article is useful for maintaining peace in Japan.

The results of the annual survey, which was conducted on April 17 and 18 and received 2,083 valid responses from randomly selected voters, were released on Constitution Day on Monday.

In the April 2007 survey, when the Shinzo Abe Cabinet of the Liberal Democratic Party had set a goal of revising the Constitution, 49 percent of voters were against revising Article 9, compared with 33 percent in favor of a change.

But since Abe resigned as prime minister in September that year, those against changing Article 9 have consistently exceeded the 60-percent mark, while those in favor have remained below 30 percent.

Meanwhile, the ratio of those who see the need for rewriting the entire Constitution has declined year by year from 58 percent in 2007 to 56 percent in 2008, 53 percent in 2009 and 47 percent in the latest survey.

By comparison, those against amendments rose from 27 percent in 2007 to 31 percent in 2008, 33 percent in 2009 and 39 percent this year.

But even among those who think constitutional revisions are necessary, 52 percent still oppose altering Article 9, compared with 41 percent who want a change.

Atsushi Sugita, a professor of political theory at Hosei University, said the survey results underscores the switch in public thinking since 2007, when voices were strong that constitutional revisions would improve politics.

"People have a growing awareness that a revision would not solve fundamental problems in our life, such as jobs, welfare and pensions," he said.

He also said the survey indicated that constitutional revision will probably not be a major point of contention in politics for some time. That would include the Upper House election this summer.

In fact, the survey showed no great differences in views between supporters of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the opposition LDP concerning constitutional revision.

Sixteen percent of those surveyed said Article 9 is "very useful" for maintaining peace in Japan and stability in East Asia, while 54 percent said it is "useful to some extent."

Those who thought Article 9 is "not very useful" for those purposes came to 19 percent and "not at all useful" to 3 percent.

The ratio of those who think the article is useful was higher among younger generations, the survey showed.

Eighty-three percent of those who said Article 9 is very useful and 75 percent for those who believe it is useful to some extent said it should not be changed.

Asked to what extent the Constitution is used to support life or society, 6 percent answered "very much" and 60 percent said "to some extent."

Twenty-seven percent chose "not very much" and 3 percent "not at all."