SYNOPSIS: Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae reiterates her willingness to revise Japan’s Constitution in a video message to a pro-revision rally. Another rally opposing constitutional revision also takes place on Constitution Memorial Day, a public holiday in Japan. 

L/ Tokyo 

S/ Takaichi Sanae, Prime Minister / We should not debate for the sake of debating. What we politicians must do to respond to the trust placed in us by the people is debate for the purpose of decision-making. 

In a video message to a rally seeking to revise the Constitution held on May 3, the prime minister expressed willingness to revise Japan's supreme law. 

The event was attended by lawmakers from the Japan Innovation Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People. 

S/ Tamura Tomoko, Japanese Communist Party leader / The Liberal Democratic Party and others say it's only a matter of adding the Self-Defense Forces to the Constitution, but what would happen if they did? Wouldn't the power to prevent overseas deployment, which can be called the final restraint, be broken? 

A separate rally opposing constitutional revision was attended by senior members of multiple opposition parties, who argued that the Constitution's Article 9 specifically prevents Japan from going to war. 

Takaichi has expressed a desire to establish by next spring a path toward a motion to revise the Constitution, and discussions in parliament are accelerating. 

The rallies took place on Constitution Memorial Day, a public holiday in Japan.