Tokyo: Japan enacted a law on Friday aimed at injecting more patriotism into its schools, one of a bundle of measures backed by conservatives keen to emerge from the shadow of the nation's defeat in World War Two.
The upper house of Parliament also passed laws making overseas missions a key role of Japan's military, long constrained by the post-war pacifist constitution, and converting the Defence Agency into a full-fledged ministry.
Passage of the laws had been delayed by opposition parties hoping to embarrass Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe's popularity has been dented by doubts about his commitment to economic reform as well as by a furore over rigged "town meetings" on education reform and other policies.
Parliament's lower house first had to reject a no-confidence motion against Abe's cabinet, then the upper chamber voted down a non-binding censure motion against the education minister.
Defence promotion
The upgrading of the Defence Agency is a largely symbolic step, but underscores Abe's desire to see Japan play a bigger role in global security affairs.
"We will have to deal with other countries as not just an agency but as a ministry that can discuss policy and the country's security," Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma told reporters.
Abe has made revising the US-drafted constitution one of his policy goals, although voters are divided. Making overseas peacekeeping missions a principal goal of the military could also increase the risk that more members of the armed forces will face dangerous operations abroad such as the 2004-06 deployment of troops to Iraq on a reconstruction mission.
Passage of the legislation on the last day of the parliamentary session was welcome news for Abe, whose ratings have slid after less than three months in office.
Best known for taking a tough stance towards North Korea on the emotive issue of Japanese citizens that Pyongyang abducted decades ago, Abe was chosen as LDP president in hopes he could lead the party to victory in an upper house poll next July.
But his decision to readmit to the ruling party 11 lawmakers expelled last year for opposing Koizumi's pet project of postal reform ate into his public support. A survey released by Jiji news agency on Thursday put his support at 41.9 percent, down 9.5 points from a month earlier.
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