Japan Press Weekly

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2015 December 2 - 8 [POLITICS]

Shii requests House Speaker to urge gov’t to convene extraordinary Diet session

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Oshima Tadamori on December 3 and requested him to urge the Abe government to convene an extraordinary Diet session.

In the meeting, Shii noted that based on Article 53 of the Japanese Constitution, the JCP and four other opposition parties have jointly been demanding the convocation of the Diet session. He went on to stress that there are “a mountain of issues” to be discussed, such as the controversial war legislation, the broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact, the construction of a new U.S. military base in Okinawa, and PM Abe’s failed economic policies.

Oshima said in response, “I’ll work harder to prompt the ruling coalition to call the Diet into session.”

The meeting was also attended by JCP Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki and JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji.

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Representatives of the JCP and other opposition parties in the House of Councilors on December 2 called on House President Yamazaki Masaaki to push the government to summon an extraordinary session of the Diet.

JCP legislator Inoue Satoshi said, “If the Abe Cabinet is allowed to continue rejecting our constitutional demand, it will lead to undermining Japan’s constitutionalism.”

Yamazaki replied, “Taking your request seriously, I’ll make representations to the Cabinet as early as today.”

Past related article:
> JCP & 4 opposition parties demand opening of extraordinary Diet session [October 22, 2015]