TOKYO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A special committee of Japan's upper house, or the House of Councilors, approved on Friday evening a bill to set procedures to amend the country's pacifist Constitution.

    With the backing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its minor coalition partner the New Komeito, the bill is expected to be passed on Monday at a plenary session of the upper house and be enacted into law.

    The bill, submitted to the Diet in May 2006 and viewed as a necessary step to rewrite the Constitution, was passed by the lower house, or the House of representatives on April 13 notwithstanding strong resistance by the opposition camp which demanded more deliberation on it.

    Japan's Constitution stipulates that its amendment needs support of absolute majority in both houses of the Diet first and then should win endorsement of the people by a majority vote in a referendum.

    The Japanese government has been seeking the passage of the national referendum bill in an early date to clear the way for revising the Constitution.

    However, analysts regard a referendum before 2011 as almost impossible given all the complicated procedures required.

    The most controversial matter in the prospective constitutional revision is Article 9, which states that Japan "forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."

    The Constitution has not been revised since coming into effect in 1947.

    The LDP made clear its intention to amend the Constitution in 2005, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his strong desire to realize the revision in his term.

    A recent survey showed that 78 percent of Japanese people believed the pacifist Constitution, especially the war-renouncing Article 9, has played a positive role in contributing to post-war peace in Japan, and about half of Japanese thought it's unnecessary to revise the Article.