Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced, once again, that he wants to amend Japan's pacifist constitution.

At a New Year press conference, Abe says he hopes the first-ever revision of the constitution can be seen this year. Japan's pacifist constitution was put into effect after the Second World War. Revising the constitution to loosen constraints on Japan's self-defense forces has long been a goal of Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. But the Prime Minister's military ambitions have evoked widespread objections, both among the Japanese public and the nation's opposition parties.