TOKYO, July 15 -- The Japanese ruling coalition will vote on a series of security bills it proposed later on Wednesday in a special lower house committee in the country's bicameral Diet and then in the full house on Thursday. If the bills are enacted, the legislation will mark the most significant overturn of Japan's defense posture in the past 70 years.

However, not only opposition parties here, but also the majority of the Japanese population are hoping to see the security legislation scrapped and are urging the government through constant protests to drop the bills and calling for Prime Minister Shinzo Abeto step down. Local reports said that the fight over the bills is close to reaching a climax.

WHAT ARE SECURITY BILLS ABOUT?

The security-related legislation comprises 11 bills that will enable the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to play a greater role than ever in the past 70 years, such as to engage in armed conflicts overseas and help defend others even if Japan is not attacked, or to exercise the right to collective self-defense.

The legislation is the follow-up to a Cabinet decision last July that lifted the self-imposed constitutional restriction on the SDF to exercise the right to collective defense through a reinterpretation of the Japanese war-renouncing Constitution by Abe's Cabinet.

Abe made a promise to the United Statesduring his visit to Washington late April that his government will seek the passage of the bills during the current Diet session so as to better and more swiftly enhance the Japan-U.S. defense treaty. The current Diet debate session has been extended by 95 days, the longest extension in the postwar era, by the Abe-led ruling bloc, only for the endorsement of the bills.

TO WHAT EXTENT IS JAPANESE POPULATION AGAINST BILLS?

A series of polls released recently by major Japanese media showed that the majority of the Japanese population were against the security legislation, with separate polls carried out by the Nikkei Daily, Mainichi Shimbun, NHK and Asahi Shimbun showing that at least 55 percent of those surveyed showed their opposition, while only 30 percent supported the bills.

The poll taken by the center-right Yomiuri Shimbun also showed that about 50 percent were against the bills and only the survey conducted by the right-wing Sankei Shimbun showed that supporters of the bills surpassed the opponents with a reading of 49 percent to 43.8 percent.

Among a total of 326 opinion papers filed to the lower house affairs bureau by 297 local assemblies in 39 out of 47 prefectures as of Friday, 292 of the local assemblies oppose or maintain cautious attitude toward the legislation, with only five local assemblies showing their support for the bills.

More than 9,000 scholars and 15,000 citizens have signed up in an appeal issued by a newly formed academic association opposing the security-related bills, while protests have been held on a daily basis even with the participation of students and women, a group that seldom takes part in political activities in Japan.

WHY DO THEY OPPOSE LEGISLATION?

Those who oppose the security bills consider, on one hand, that the legislation violates Japan's pacifist Constitution, especially the war-renouncing Article 9. The Japanese supreme law bans the SDF from exercising the right to collective defense and engaging in conflicts abroad.

The country's constitutional scholars, including veterans fighting for revising the Constitution, said that Abe's trying to ram the bills through parliament will jeopardize the rule of law and diminish the role of the constitution to limit political power. "If Abe's administration forces this policy through parliament without amending the constitution, that would be the beginning of tyranny and the destruction of the rule of law,"Setsu Kobayashi, professor emeritus at Keio University, said in a recent press conference.

Polls revealed recently that about 90 percent of Japanese constitutional academics considered the legislation to be in violation of the country's pacifist Constitution.

In addition, opponents to the war bills insist that the way the government is pushing the bills forward is undemocratic since the majority of the Japanese population is against the legislation, but the government is turning a blind eye to the strong opposition, arguing that the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which serves to provide legal advice to the government, has become seriously undermined and is suspected of succumbing to Abe's pressure.

COULD BILLS BE PASSED AND WHAT COULD BE DONE TO SCRAP THEM

The Japanese ruling bloc holds a comfortable majority, with more than two thirds of seats, in the all-powerful lower house. According to Japanese law, if a bill was passed in the lower house but was vetoed by the upper house, the bill could still be enacted after securing over two thirds of votes in a new poll in the lower house.

Furthermore, the ruling camp has resolved to secure the passage of the controversial bills as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga allegedly said that the government is prepared for a drop of 30 percentage points in its support rate after ramming the bills through parliament.

A recent poll by the Asahi Shimbun showed late last month that the support rate for Abe's Cabinet plunged to 39 percent. Vice Prime Minister Taro Aso said the debate is enough as the special committee has already spent 100 hours on the bills and there are no new questions from the opposition parties, but Shigeru Ishiba, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lord who serves as minister for regional revitalization, said Tuesday that he doesn't "have much confidence to say that the public understanding has been promoted. "

More than 80 percent of Japanese people, according to a separated survey, said the government did not explain the war bills sufficiently.

The situation the opponents face is pretty tough currently but some experts maintain optimism over the extension of the Diet debate. Koichi Nakano, professor of political science at Sophia University, said that the more time the government spends in debating -- while more bad things occurs -- including the problem over the construction of the stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the issue of the private data leak in the pension system, the more the government's credibility will suffer. "Even if they ram the bills through, they are, at the bottom line, unconstitutional and not supported by the Japanese people; the law is going to be useless,"Nakano said, adding that citizens hope that such a message is going to create sufficient concern among those in the government who are rather more rational and logical and can see that there is little point in the law if the proceedings go ahead as planned.

Meanwhile, Kobayashi encouraged the Japanese public who oppose the bills to continue their resistance even if the bills are passed until the next general election during which they can use their vote to punish Abe and the ruling LDP.