• By
  • Toko Sekiguchi

As Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party aims to regain its first control of both parliamentary chambers in quarter-century, the only force that stands between the popular Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s life-long goal of changing Japan’s constitution may be a tiny yet politically powerful coalition partner with pacifist Buddhist backers.

European Pressphoto Agency
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and New Komeito party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi attend a debate in Tokyo on July 3.

The New Komeito, founded by the modern Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai in 1964 as the religious group’s political body, has 31 seats in the 480-member lower house, and just 19 in the 242-seat upper house. However, the well-oiled voting machinery of Soka Gakkai, which boasts 8 million household memberships make Komeito an invaluable coalition partner for the LDP. Weakened organizational pull of LDP’s traditional vote-gathering groups due to modernization have made Komeito’s electoral cooperation and those 8 million or so votes indispensable during election time, and the two parties have largely succeeded in overcoming ideological differences during their 14-year alliance.

But with the hawkish Mr. Abe at the helm, Soka Gakkai must maintain a delicate balance between sharing power and aligning itself with a party calling for an overhaul of the constitution the Soka Gakkai says must be protected for its commitment to peace.

A senior official of the lay Buddhist group spoke to a group of foreign journalists in Tokyo this week to specifically explain where the Soka Gakkai stood on the contentious issue. Soka Gakkai’s Vice President Hirotsugu Terasaki said the Komeito was opposed to changing Article 96 of the constitution first, which sets the conditions for putting forth a constitutional amendment to a national referendum. Mr. Abe wants to revise it so that an amendment proposal can be brought to the people if it has approval from a simple majority in both houses of parliament, rather than the current requirement for a two-thirds support.

“It would only make sense to discuss procedural amendments with issue-oriented amendments,” Mr. Terasaki said, echoing a position held by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. The prime minister has not linked his call for Article 96 revision with a specific change to another article, but he has in the past called for amending the pacifist Article 9, which renounces war.

As an organization whose political activities are rooted in freedom of religion during imperial Japan’s brutal oppression of non-Shinto religions, Mr. Terasaki explained that the Soka Gakkai supports constitutional revisions designed to strengthen human rights. The Gakkai claims an additional 2 million memberships abroad.

But the premise of support for constitutional change would be not changing the pacifist Article 9—a position that is shared by Komeito, which holds frequent policy discussions with Soka Gakkai leadership to best reflect the members’ opinions.

Mr. Terasaki said that the Komeito possesses the vital role of keeping the center-right LDP from treading off the curb, and that dissolving the coalition is not unthinkable if the two parties’ ideological stances become irreconcilable. During his previous term as prime minister from 2006 to 2007, Mr. Abe had made his conservative views clearer—revising the educational law to make “patriotism” an objective at schools—often raising concerns in the Komeito, which also shared power with the LDP back then.

Which doesn’t mean Komeito looking to give up its power any time soon. “If you’re not part of the game, you forego having any influence,” Mr. Terasaki said.

For the latest news and analysis,