• By   • Toko Sekiguchi  As Japan’s conservative Liberal
Democratic Party aims to regain its first control of both
parliamentary chambers in quarter-century, the only force that
stands between the popular Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s life-long
goal of changing Japan’s constitution may be a tiny yet
politically powerful coalition partner with pacifist Buddhist
backers.  European Pressphoto Agency Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and New Komeito party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi attend
a debate in Tokyo on July 3.  The New Komeito, founded by the
modern Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai in 1964 as the religious
group’s political body, has 31 seats in the 480-member lower
house, and just 19 in the 242-seat upper house. However, the
well-oiled voting machinery of Soka Gakkai, which boasts 8
million household memberships make Komeito an invaluable
coalition partner for the LDP. Weakened organizational pull of
LDP’s traditional vote-gathering groups due to modernization
have made Komeito’s electoral cooperation and those 8 mi