A conservative ally of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for discussion on revising Japan’s constitution to allow same-sex marriage, annoying colleagues in the ruling party who are against it and also opposition parliamentarians who say enacting a simple law would clear the way. Japan has no anti-LGBT laws although many LGBT people still conceal their sexuality. But couples seeking to register same-sex marriages have been rejected by local authorities because there is no law specifically recognising it. The constitution, never amended since it was adopted after Japan’s defeat in World War Two, says: “Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis”. Amending the constitution’s pacifist Article 9 to clarify the status of Japan’s military is a long-held goal of Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Revising the article is highly controversial, although it has already been stretched to allow armed forces for self-defence.