But over a million more votes were divided between two opposition candidates who both attacked the Government's plan as a violation of Japan's "peace constitution."

The old-line power brokers of Mr. Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party had traditionally been the most ardent advocates of revising Japan's so-called peace constitution.

Mr. Kaifu has been scrambling since then to find new roles for Japan that will place it in the center of peacekeeping activities without violating what the Japanese term their "peace constitution."

Although it was Washington that forced the peace constitution on Japan, in recent years the positions have been reversed.

He reminded those who felt such concern that "since the war, Japan has dedicated itself to a purely defensive posture under our peace constitution and vowed never again to become a military power such as might pose a threat to other countries".

That pledge came after a long national debate that Japan's "peace constitution" prohibited it from sending armed forces to join the allies fighting Iraq.

It would add to the perception that Japan is running circles around its "peace constitution" and quietly constructing the building blocks for a powerful modern army.

This period saw a number of right-leaning groups forming to aggressively push for constitutional revision, but also a significant number of organizations and individuals speaking out against revision and in support of "the peace constitution."

America's occupation of Japan succeeded not just because the United States purged Japan's warmongers and established a peace constitution but because it imposed land reform.

And may other nations adopt their own peace constitutions.