Abe himself doesn't really want this; he's all talk and no action. By keeping the measure up in the air he can ensure that it will keep being a strong campaign theme of his party. There are conservative politicians way more extreme than him, and I think he has a severe lack of will to implement his policies. But his party has ruled for decades over Japan and the opposition is divided, so basically he's guaranteed that his party will run the country for at least five or ten years.