(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130107-shinzoabe-4a.photoblog600.jpg)Shizuo Kambayashi / APJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, wants to loosen the limits of Japan's 1947 pacifist constitution on the military and recast wartime history with a less apologetic tone.By ReutersTOKYO -- Hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling party kicked off their first full working day of 2013 by singing the national anthem, seen by critics as a symbol of past imperialism and militarism.
The return of the 58-year-old Abe to the premiership following his conservative Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide win in an election last month has raised concerns at home and abroad about a shift to the right in Japanese politics.
"We have returned the government to a party that can stoutly sing 'Kimigayo' at the start of business and truly been able to take a first step to 'take back Japan'," the Sankei newspaper quoted Abe as saying after he and other LDP members sang the anthem at an LDP meeting.
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