Explainer: five things to know about Japan’s pacifist constitution

Nationalists like Abe dismiss the constitution as a humiliating relic imposed by US occupiers after Japan’s defeat in the second world war, while North Korea’s recent firing of two missiles over the country in less than a month has focused minds on security.

But many Japanese feel a strong attachment to the constitution’s peaceful ideals and changing it sits close to the bottom of their to-do list.

Any tentative move towards re-militarisation would trigger alarm bells in China and the Koreas given Japan’s history of military aggression in the region.

Here are some facts about the document and the tough job Abe will have in trying to change it:

What’s so unique about the Japanese constitution?

It was drafted by Americans when they occupied Japan after 1945 with an eye to quashing Tokyo’s ability to engage in another conflict.