JAPAN - A typhoon has been drenching parts of Japan as the country heads to the polls after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election in the face of the rising threat from North Korea. Mr Abe called the election amid rebounding approval ratings after a record low over the summer and with the opposition largely in disarray. He is predicted to win a majority, after the opposition fell apart. Mr Abe is hoping his party will win a two-thirds majority, allowing him to make constitutional changes. In particular, he wants to change Japan's self-defence force into a national army for the first time since World War II.