Japan's Parliament on Friday approved a law upgrading the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II, a main element in the new government's effort to raise the country's military presence. The measure, approved Friday by the upper house, bolsters the prestige and budgetary prerogatives of an agency that has kept a low profile under the pacifist Constitution enacted after the war. The bill had already been approved by the more powerful lower house. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made the upgrade of the Defense Agency, revision of the pacifist Constitution, and implementation of patriotic education top priorities since taking office in September on a platform of winning Japan a greater role in international affairs, the Associated Press reported.
