June 21, 2018

The Liberal Democratic, Komei, and "Ishin no Kai" parties, despite opposition parties' disapproval, extended the current Diet session for another 32 days on June 20, the day the session was scheduled to end, in order to have "work-style reform" bills which will invite more deaths from overwork (karoshi) and a casino implementation bill enacted.

At the Lower House plenary session, Japanese Communist Party representative Hatano Kimie gave a speech in opposition to the Diet extension, saying, "It is completely unacceptable for the ruling force to prolong the Diet term in order to pass through the bills in total disregard of public opposition."

As the reason why the bills are still under discussion, she said, "It is because serious flaws in those bills are coming into sharp relief in Diet discussions, provoking public criticism."

After the ruling force bulldozed through the extension of the current session, five opposition parties and one parliamentary group held a meeting of their Diet affairs chiefs. In the meeting, they confirmed a commitment to work together to scrap the package of the work-style reform bills, the casino-centric integrated resorts (IR) implementation bill, and an Upper House election system bill which will benefit only the LDP. In addition, the opposition parties agreed to demand that Kake Kotaro, the scandal-ridden "Kake Gakuen" president, be summoned without delay as a sworn witness before the Diet.

Past related articles:
> Casino bill steamrollered through Lower House committee [Jun16, 2018]
> Ruling block bulldozes through ‘work-style reform’ package bill
[May 26, 2018]
> Ehime Prefecture’s records cast suspicion on PM Abe about false statement regarding Kake veterinary school [ May 22, 2018]