The Liberal Democratic Party’s new coalition government with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) has taken on a distinctly stronger conservative stance following the departure of Komeito, which had long served as a brake on the LDP’s hawkish policies.

In the coalition agreement signed on Oct. 20 by LDP President Sanae Takaichi and Hirofumi Yoshimura, her Nippon Ishin counterpart, the LDP largely swallowed the new partner’s po d deadlines for their implementation.

On foreign and security policy, the agreement spells out plans to revise three key national security documents ahead of schedule that call for increasing defense spending to 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product by fiscal 2027.

Takaichi, who was elected as the nation’s first female prime minister on Oct. 21, is expected to refer to the accelerated revision in the policy speech she is set to deliver before the Diet on Oct. 24.

With a Japan-U.S. summit set for Oct. 28, the government aims to clearly signal Japan’s commitment to raising its defense budget to 2 percent and beyond, which would be music to the ears of U.S. President Donald Trump who has griped that America’s allies are not paying their way.

On arms exports, the agreement goes so far as to pledge the abolition of the current five-category restriction during the ordinary Diet session in 2026.

The government and the LDP have long sought to scrap the restriction, which limits the purposes for which exported defense equipment can be used to “rescue, transportation, vigilance, surveillance and minesweeping.”

But Komeito, which brands itself as the “party of peace,” was always leery, leading the LDP to repeatedly shelve the matter in consultations with its coalition partner.

Additionally, the agreement calls for promoting the introduction of submarines powered by “next-generation propulsion systems,” such as nuclear technology.

The issue refers to submarines equipped with vertical launching systems for missiles that would provide counterstrike capabilities, which are currently under research by the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

This aligns with recommendations in a report compiled in September by a Defense Ministry expert panel on ways for Japan to fundamentally reinforce its defense capabilities.

All these foreign and security policies were sought by Nippon Ishin during coalition negotiations, and they also resonate with Takaichi’s hawkish views.

The two parties even considered explicitly stating “nuclear-powered submarines” at Nippon Ishin’s request at one point during the negotiations, according to a government source.

“This is practically a wholesale acceptance of Nippon Ishin’s demands,” the source said.

On intelligence policy, the coalition agreement stipulates that consideration on anti-espionage legislation, a goal pursued by both Takaichi and Nippon Ishin, will begin in 2025, with a commitment to “swiftly draft and enact the bill.”

The LDP submitted a state secrets bill with similar aims to the Diet in 1985, but it was scrapped over concerns it could infringe on freedom of thought and belief.

The agreement also includes plans to upgrade the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office to a National Intelligence Bureau during the ordinary Diet session in 2026 and to establish a Foreign Intelligence Agency, modeled on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and other organizations, by the end of fiscal 2027.

Both plans are in line with a set of proposals compiled by Nippon Ishin.

A senior Defense Ministry official voiced concern.

“The LDP’s partnership with Komeito helped ensure a measure of legitimacy and transparency in security policy,” the official said. “As Nippon Ishin is eager to pursue an agenda that is more hawkish than the LDP, policies could be pushed forward on sheer momentum alone.”

The coalition agreement also reflects a strong conservative tone on issues such as imperial succession, constitutional revision and family surnames.

In a meeting with Takaichi, Yoshimura has said, “We share the same vision of the nation and the desire to make Japan stronger.”

On constitutional revision, the agreement specifies establishing a joint drafting council during the extraordinary Diet session convening on Oct. 21 to create an emergency clause, with the aim of submitting a proposal to the Diet by the end of fiscal 2026.

However, opinion among political parties remains divided over such a clause, which would concentrate authority in the government during crises. This is due to fears it could trample people’s rights. As a result, no consensus has been reached.

The agreement also calls for setting up a joint drafting council during the same extraordinary session to discuss revisions to pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution based on Nippon Ishin’s proposal compiled in September.

The proposal advocates deleting Paragraph 2 of Article 9, which renounces war as a sovereign right and the threat or use of force to settle international disputes, to fully allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. It also calls for maintaining a National Defense Force.

Both ideas were included in the LDP’s draft constitutional amendment compiled in 2012 when it was in opposition but stalled in the face of a public backlash and other factors. 

On imperial succession, the agreement emphasizes “the weight of the unbroken tradition of male-line succession that has been maintained since ancient times.”

It prioritizes a system to allow adoption solely from among male descendants in the paternal line of the 11 former collateral branches, whose members left the imperial household after World War II. The two parties said they aim to revise the Imperial House Law during next year’s ordinary Diet session.

The ruling and opposition parties have been discussing the issue since 2022 in talks overseen by the speakers of both Diet chambers, but no consensus has been reached.

The LDP-Nippon Ishin agreement makes no mention of another key proposal of allowing female members of the imperial family to retain their status even after marriage. 

The two coalition partners are also opposed to the introduction of a system that would allow married couples to use separate surnames.

The agreement instead pledges to submit a bill during next year’s ordinary Diet session to expand the use of maiden surnames as aliases, a position long advocated by Takaichi and included in Nippon Ishin’s campaign pledges, with the aim of enactment.

Akira Koike, who heads the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, criticized the coalition agreement, saying, “It is designed to ram through the things the LDP has long wanted to do but never could in one fell swoop.”

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, emphasized his intention to build a “rallying axis that can bring together moderate conservatives and liberals” to counter the LDP-Nippon Ishin coalition.