TOKYO (AFX) - A majority of Japanese voters feel it is time to revise the US-imposed pacifist post-war constitution but support the war renouncing article, according to a poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun.

Sixty-five percent of adults polled in February said the 1947 constitution should be revised, up from roughly 60 pct in the past three polls conducted since 2004, and from 20-40 pct in the polls done between 1982 and 2004, the poll showed.

The main sticking point in constitutional amendments is Article Nine which renounces the right to maintain a military or even use the threat of force as a means of settling international disputes.

Japan has skirted Article Nine by referring to its military as the Self-Defense Forces, which functions exclusively for defensive purposes and do not possess offensive capabilities.

The Mainichi Shimbun poll, based on telephone interviews of 1,115 voters nationwide, found a combined 62 pct believe Japan should stick to the first clause of the Article Nine, which states Japan renounces war.

And 21 pct believe Japan should amend the second clause of Article Nine, which denies Japan the right to have any military forces and the right to wage war.

Those who opposed amending the constitution stood at 27 pct, a majority of whom were opposed to any amendment to Article Nine, the Mainichi said.

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"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

If Japan would only out source its work and let India do the dialling they would have rung all lines in Japan and gotten an exqact count. This is what forced their hand in the first place, something similar anyway.