Shinzo Abe raises a fist to lead the Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers for further advancement in the coming parliamentary elections after winning a landslide victory in Japan's ruling party presidential vote Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo. Nationalist political blue-blood Abe won 464 of the 702 votes counted, a majority of 66 percent, a triumph nearly guaranteeing his election as prime minister next week. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

The tough-talking nationalist poised to become Japan's new leader may be considered a political newcomer, but already the country is bracing for major constitutional change that could reverse its pacifist image.

Liberal Democratic Party candidate Shinzo Abe, who has pushed to revise Japan's current constitution preventing the military from settling international disputes, became president of the ruling party on Sept. 20.

The conservative politician is now set to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who steps down at the end of this month after more than five years in power.

There was little doubt the youthful Abe would take the presidency of the ruling LDP, coming out with a 66 per cent majority over his two opponents in the vote.

As the newly elected president of the ruling LDP, Abe is virtually guaranteed to become the next prime minister on Sept. 26.

Portraying himself as a right-wing candidate who believes patriotism is the solution to Japan's troubles, Abe has made clear his intentions to reinvigorate the Japanese military.

Critics now fear that with Abe in power, there will be an overhaul of the traditional postwar pacifism ingrained in Japan's constitution.

The grandson of an accused war criminal who went on to become prime minister, Abe has made controversial remarks in the past, arguing it is "not necessarily unconstitutional" for Japan to use nuclear weapons in preventative pre-emptive strikes against North Korea.

Labelled dangerous

Of all politicians in the country, Abe is the most dangerous, a liberal political commentator in Japan told a reporter with Time Magazine's Asian edition. Minoru Morita dubbed Abe "the politician who could lead this country to war" and expressed concern about a troubling wave of nationalism that Abe would likely bring to the country.

Among the candidate's chief supporters are conservatives involved in efforts to edit Japanese-history textbooks so that they gloss over Japanese wartime atrocities. Abe claimed the events could be a threat to patriotism.

Hundreds of people, mostly Japanese, became enraged and filed lawsuits in August against Abe, demanding he apologize for supporting the nationalist history books.

Although some political observers in Japan believe he has attempted to soften his image, there are still concerns Abe will bring hawkish views on foreign policy at a volatile time.

Relations with China and South Korea are already tense and were shaken up when Koizumi repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a site that honours Japanese soldiers who were seen as aggressors to their Asian neighbours in the first half of the 20th century.

Abe has refused to confirm reports he made secret pilgrimages to the shrine in April.

An eye on China

While China continues to rise as a superpower, Abe sees the country as a chief economic rival. Militarily, China has also been building itself up and there have been campaigns to block Japan's bid to permanently join the United Nations Security Council.

In 2002, Abe's harsh words against North Korea first thrust him into national spotlight after he took a hard line over Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s.

He quickly rose to national prominence for pressing North Korea to surrender five citizens and became a familiar TV personality in Japanese homes.

At 52, Abe would be the country's youngest postwar prime minister.

In October of last year, Koizumi promoted him to his first high-level post as chief cabinet secretary, effectively making Abe the outgoing prime minister's right-hand man.

Although Abe served five terms as a member of parliament, he has little else to show on his track record and his policy views have been intentionally left vague.

He wants to help Japan become a "normal nation" on the global stage, but it's uncertain what that means for Japan.

Abe plans to cut spending and pay off Japan's public debt, the largest in the world. He said he's "committed'" to promoting foreign investment in Japan so overseas investment will double in four years.

Family politics

Abe graduated from Tokyo's Seikei University in 1977 and studied politics at the University of Southern California. He first entered politics in 1993 and his first governmental appointment was in 2000, when Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori named him deputy cabinet secretary. The job involved little real policymaking, but politics is in Abe's blood.

His grandfather, a high-ranking member of the wartime government named Nobusuke Kishi, was arrested for war crimes by the Allies after the Second World War. Kishi was released and went on to forge the U.S.-Japanese alliance as prime minister. Abe's father was a foreign minister in the 1980s and his great-uncle, Eisaku Sato, was another one of postwar Japan's most conservative national leaders.

Abe would be expected to inject energy into the ruling government. But a lack of tough questions on account of his immense popularity has meant Abe's platform remains vague. His official policy platform runs only four pages.

Kent Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at John Hopkins University, told Newsweek Abe's agenda will almost certainly include repairing relations with Japan's Asian neighbours.

He's already stated he would not disclose any further visits to the Yasukuni Shrine reviled by China and South Korea.

"If a disclosure of a visit triggers political and diplomatic issues, I think announcement only invites an unnecessary problem," he said in a TV interview.

Abe also wants China to participate in arranging a summit that would be the first meeting with a Japanese prime minister since 2001.

"Japan is keeping its door open, and I would like to see China to take a step forward," he said to the Associated Press. "I think it is important that both of us make an effort."

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