With his approval ratings having rebounded and the political opposition in disarray, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to strike while the iron is hot -- officially announcing plans to dissolve the Lower House of the Diet on Sept. 28 and hold snap elections on Oct. 22. Abe's window to call elections has gradually been closing and he may be betting that this is his last best chance to hold them. Lower House terms expire in December 2018 and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership elections loom in the preceding September. Abe will need to hold a strong political position if he hopes to secure a third term as head of the party and to pursue his ambitious constitutional reform agenda, aimed at providing the legal architecture for Japan's military renormalization, potentially revising the longstanding pacifist Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution....
