Japan's ruling party is eyeing a constitutional change allowing its military to use force in international missions and letting a woman ascend the throne, a report said yesterday.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to decide on the outline of the changes next month and announce the final draft in November next year, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, citing party sources.

The changes would mark a major revision to the pacifist 1947 constitution imposed by the Americans at the end of World War II, in which the nation renounces war and the use of force in settling international disputes.

While the draft still renounces war, it would allow a newly defined self-defence force to use arms in international security missions, the paper said.

Some 550 of Japan's Self-Defence Forces troops in Iraq have been prevented from joining a multinational force providing security and have instead operated independently on a strictly humanitarian and reconstruction mission.

The revision to the structure of the royal family would also take some pressure off Crown Princess Masako, who has suffered from a stress-induced illness since last December.
Masako, 40, has been pressured to produce a male heir to the throne.

When she gave birth to daughter Princess Aiko in December 2001, it sparked a debate about overturning the ban on women entering the line of royal succession.

Aiko is the only daughter of the current heir to the throne, Crown Prince Naruhito, and his wife, Masako. No boys have been born into any branch of the Imperial family for nearly 40 years.

Few Japanese seem to oppose the idea of a reigning empress. "I think this is probably something that most Japanese people think is good," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters when asked about the proposal for allowing a woman emperor.

However, officially designating the emperor head of state could prove more controversial, some analysts said. "Of course it would not be a big change, but you can say that this might strengthen nationalism in a number of areas," said Muneyuki Shindo, a politics professor at Chiba University.

According to an initial draft of revisions drawn up by a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) panel, inheritance would be dynastic, regardless of gender.

The emperor would be the "head of state of Japan, a symbol of Japanese history, tradition, culture and unity", the draft says.

The US-drafted constitution that took effect in 1947 states that the emperor "shall be the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people".

Debate has mounted recently over Japan's succession law, with proponents of change saying it should be brought into line with modern laws on gender equality and noting that most European monarchies allow succession by both sexes.

Recent surveys have shown that some 80 per cent of Japanese do not object to the idea of a ruling empress, but designating the emperor head of state might suggest to some that he has been given more power, an uncomfortable reminder of the past.