Parliament win gives Abe a free hand

While a review of the Japan-US Defense Cooperation Guidelines will top his third premiership's agenda. The guidelines were supposed to be updated this month but were delayed by the snap election.

For Abe, a new Constitution is the issue closest to his heart. Japan's nationalists believe that the supreme law was imposed on Japan by the Allies in the aftermath of WWII.

In an interview with Asahi TV Sunday night, Abe said: "To amend the Constitution has been our party's long-cherished wish since its establishment. We will emphasize the need to amend the Constitution and make efforts to see growing public debate on the issue."

But this is not going down well with Japan's neighbors.

Japan has not shown enough historical reconciliation with its neighbors. And true to his rightist roots, Abe denies that "comfort women" were abducted and forced to provide sex to soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII.

Abe will need to engage South Korean President Park Geun-hye as the 50th anniversary of the two countries' peace treaty looms in 2015. So far he has had no formal meeting with Park.

Aware that his agenda is creating waves that are rocking the boat of the postwar order, Abe will continue his globetrotting diplomacy under the slogan "proactive pacifism". He has visited 54 countries in two years, the most for a Japanese prime minister.

His most notable visit was probably to Beijing in November, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though briefly.

China and Japan reached an agreement on four principles, to pave the way for the talk between Xi and Abe. But once back in Japan, Abe and his Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida rushed to go back on the agreement, saying Japan has not changed its stance on territorial and history issues.

Plainly, China and Japan still have many high hurdles to overcome if they are to move their relationship onto a normal, if not friendly, track.

At home, Abe is now able to seek to do whatever he wants in the next four years - his last chance to govern Japan. His nationalism and historical revisionism, combined with his ambition to rearm Japan, will add to the uncertainty of the situation in East Asia. The world may also need to keep an eye on whether Abe's approach will further shake the foundations of the post-war order.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn