The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which is marking a half century of nearly continuous rule, will break the onetime political taboo after securing an overwhelming majority in September elections.

The draft, which has already been made public but will be formally presented at the LDP's 50th anniversary celebration, will allow Japan to keep a military for the first time since its World War II defeat.

The move could raise tensions with neighboring countries, which accuse Japan of not atoning for its past aggression.

The constitution, however, will maintain Japan's official pacifism, keeping a clause that says: "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."

The constitution is nearly certain to go through parliament, with the main opposition Democratic Party also backing revision. It would then be submitted to a referendum, with opinion polls indicating it would easily pass.

Other than in name, Japan already has one of the world's best funded "militaries," devoting close to five trillion yen (44 billion dollars) to defense a year.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who enjoys strong approval ratings, has tried to boost Japan's image as more than an economic power. He has deployed some 600 troops on a reconstruction mission to Iraq, the first time since 1945 that Japan has deployed soldiers to a country where fighting is under way.

Due to the pacifist constitution, the troops in Iraq with their state of the art technology have not even fired a shot and could only use force in the strictest definition of self-defense.

Japan has skirted the constitution by referring to its troops as the "Self-Defense Forces."

The draft constitution would keep the terminology but also use the word military.

It cuts out a paragraph in pacifist Article Nine that says "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."

Instead, the draft says: "In order to secure peace and the independence of our country as well as the security of the state and the people, military forces for self-defense shall be maintained with the prime minister of the cabinet as the supreme commander."

In light of the revision, the LDP will also seek to create a cabinet-level defense ministry, Jiji Press news agency reported. Japan now has a "Defense Agency" which has lower status than other ministries such as foreign affairs and finance.

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