Shadow Emperor - Japan Conference - The Nippon Kaigi (日本会議?, "Japan Conference")[1] is a Japanese nationalist non-political party and State Shinto-advocating religious organization that was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 members.[1][2][3] The group is influential in the legislative and executive branches of the Japanese government through its affiliates.[2][4] Shinzō Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, serves as a special advisor to the group's parliamentary league.[1] The group describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to "revise the current Constitution,"[5] and sees its mission to promote patriotic education, the revision of the Constitution of Japan, and support for prime ministers' official visits to Yasukuni Shrine.[6][7][8][9] In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, "We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the glory of the nation."[10] Nippon Kaigi supports revising the Japanese Constitution, especially Article 9 which forbids a standing army.[11]