Japan's upper house of the Diet, or the House of Councilors, started on Monday morning to debate on a bill which set procedures to amend the country's pacifist Constitution.

The bill, which was submitted to the Diet in May 2006, was approved by the lower house of the Diet on Friday given the majority of seats held by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its minor coalition partner, the New Komeito party, which aims to gain parliamentary approval for the legislation as soon as possible.

Japan's Constitution stipulates that its amendment needs support of absolute majority in both houses of the Diet first and then should win endorsement of the people by a majority vote in a referendum.

The Japanese government has been seeking the passage of the national referendum bill in an early date to clear the way for revising the Constitution.

However, analysts regard a referendum before 2011 as almost impossible given all the complicated procedures required, Kyodo said.

The most controversial matter in the prospective constitutional revision is Article 9, which states that Japan "forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."

The war-renouncing Constitution has not been revised since coming into effect in 1947.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2007)