Kibo no To [Party of Hope] Secretary General Motohisa Furukawa and Democratic Party (DP) Secretary Teruhiko Mashiko met at the Diet on Nov. 16, where they agreed to hold regular meetings once a week from now on. The two officials are expected to exchange views on ways to cooperate in the Diet and the realignment of opposition parties.

Earlier, Party of Hope leader Yuichiro Tamaki and DP leader Kohei Otsuka had also met in the Diet. Otsuka said: “We used to be colleagues. Let us cooperate as allied parties in confronting the Abe administration.” Tamaki responded with: “We will cooperate whenever possible.”

Mashiko also spoke with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama on the phone on the same day. They are also coordinating to meet regularly.