Some 53 percent of 1,945 people polled by the Asahi Shimbun on April 11 and 12 said there was a need to revise the statutes, up from 47 percent in a poll taken in April 2001, the paper said.

The first majority support for constitutional revision since the paper began polling in 1955 stemmed from rising security concerns, the paper said.

"The 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States; the North Korean abduction of Japanese nationals; suspicions about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons... These appear to have accelerated interest in constitutional revision," it said.

Some 31 percent said the constitution's Article 9, in which Japan renounces war as a sovereign right, should be changed, up from 17 percent in the last poll. Some 60 percent opposed any change, down from 74 percent.

The poll was taken ahead of Monday's celebration of Constitution Day, and as some 550 of Japan's Self-Defense Forces troops continued their humanitarian and reconstruction work in southern Iraq.

Only 25 percent of those polled said the future role of Japan's military overseas should include reconstruction aid in nations where combat is continuing, "like Iraq", while 45 percent said it should be limited to UN-sponsored peacekeeping.

Some 13 percent favored the military's use of force overseas "if needed for Japanese interests", while 12 percent said the SDF should not be allowed to operate overseas at all.

WAR.WIRE