For a moment on Sunday night it seemed like the dream of Japanese conservatives was in their grasp, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe captured the two-thirds of parliament needed to revise the country’s pacifist constitution.
But there is a proviso: much of that two-thirds is Mr Abe’s coalition partners in Komeito, a party of Buddhist pacifists who may be willing to revise the constitution but have totally different views about how.
According to officials across the political spectrum, that means there is almost no chance of a change in the constitution’s war-renouncing Article Nine in this parliament. Instead, there will be a prolonged debate about what reform is possible, and an “emergency powers” clause — spelling out where authority lies in crises such as a large earthquake — is likely to take centre stage.