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.

日本国会上院，也就是众议院，在星期一早上开始讨论为修订日本的和平宪法而设定程序的议案。这部议案，已于2006年4月被提交给国会。由于执政的自民党和它的小联盟党——新国民党在国会拥有大多数席位，为了尽可能快地获得议会批准这部立法，在星期五国会下院已批准了这项议案。日本的宪法条款的修改首先需要国会两院绝大多数的支持，其次也要在公投中得到大多数投票者的支持。早些时候为了澄清修订宪法的途径，日本政府已经在寻求全国性公投议案的信息。然而，分析人士认为由于复杂程序的要求，在2011年以前公投几乎是不可能的。在未来宪法修订中最有争议性的问题是第9条，它宣称日本“永远放弃作为国家主权的战争，也永远放弃威胁和使用武力作为解决国际争端的方式。” 放弃战争宪法自从1947年生效以来没有被修改过。