Abe should match words with deeds

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's landslide victory in Japan's lower house election on Sunday has further consolidated support for his ultra-right political agenda and will no doubt embolden him to raise the status of Japan's defense forces, a prospect that will not be regarded as good news in the region.

As is known to all, Abe has been advocating constitutional revisions for years. In 2014, his administration reinterpreted Article 9 to give Japan the right to exercise collective self-defense. One year later, he forced the passage of controversial security-related bills through parliament, allowing expanded overseas roles for Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

Now, Sunday's victory has granted Abe's conservative coalition a two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament. The result comes as no surprise, as the opposition is weak and fragmented, and no match for Abe's ruling coalition, but it means Abe now has the opportunity to try and change the country's "pacifist" Constitution.