A middle-aged Japanese man set himself alight near a train station in Tokyo on Sunday, June 29, protesting the prime minister's latest political move.

An unidentified man climbed up on a structure near the Shinjuku train station, what appears to be a pedestrian bridge, and began reading a speech. For an hour the man read the speech through a megaphone, in one of Tokyo's busiest shopping and entertainment districts, with two plastic bottles filled with an unknown substance at his side.

The man's speech spoke against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's changes to the Japanese Constitution, which would expand the use of the Japanese military. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, after reading out his speech, the man opened the bottles and poured the contents on himself and then lit himself on fire.

According to Al-Jazeera, a police spokeswoman confirmed the incident and said the man was taken to hospital; however, it was not evident whether he survived or not, and the police did not divulge that information. In a video posted to YouTube, available below, witnesses record how firefighters used fire hoses to douse the blaze.

Though this form of protest is rare in Japan, as pointed out by AFP, the man's actions point toward a division within the country concerning Abe's latest political push to change Japan's constitution. Written after Japan's defeat in World War II by the United States, the constitution forbids Japan from having a standing army, going to war or possessing nuclear weapons. Though Japan has a military, its purpose its merely for self-defense.

As early as Tuesday, that is all poised to change when Abe's reforms are to pass through the Japanese Diet. According to Reuters, with the new interpretation of the constitution, Japan will be able to freely flex more of its military might without having the restraints of exercising "collective self-defense" and only acting to help a friendly country under attack.

With China's increased hostility in the region over disputed islands prompted Japan to find a way to improve its standing in the region. Conservatives, who make up Abe's party, argue that with China's military might on the rise, they must be able match it.

"In my view, Japan is finally catching up with the global standard of security," former Japanese diplomat Kunihiko Miyake said. "Japan can now do as every other United Nations member under the U.N. charter."