The following is the gist of interpellations at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Feb. 14:

Regarding the “crime of preparation for terrorist attacks,” which the government is planning to penalize, Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda indicated at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Feb. 14 that the new legislation will not cover counterterrorism measures beyond the requirements of the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. The UN convention seeks to penalize organized crimes such as….Read more

At a press conference held on Feb. 9, Yoshio Urushibara, chairman of Komeito’s central secretariat, criticized Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda for distributing a written statement concerning a bill “to criminalize acts of plotting and preparing to commit terrorism and other organized crimes,” which narrows down the conditions constituting “conspiracy,” and calls his act as being “extremely imprudent and reckless.” With criticism also….Read more

Ruling party and opposition directors of the House of Representatives Budget Committee agreed at a meeting held at noon on Feb. 8 to hold an intensive session of the committee on Feb. 14, requiring the attendance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the relevant ministers, to discuss the summit meeting between Abe and President Donald Trump on Feb. 11 (Japan….Read more

The Democratic Party (DP) and three other opposition parties stepped up their offensive against the administration on Feb. 8. They are calling Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda’s withdrawal of his document on the “conspiracy law,” the daily logs kept by the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops engaged in UN peacekeeping operations (PKO) in South Sudan with the word “sento [combat]” in them,….Read more

The following is the gist of interpellations at the House of Representatives Budget Committee intensive session on Feb. 7:

On Feb. 3, the House of Representatives Budget Committee saw the ruling and opposition parties complete their basic Diet interpellation sessions with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other cabinet ministers. Since last week, Abe attended question and answer sessions held at the budget committee for a total of seven days. The major point of contention was how the government will….Read more

The following is the gist of interpellations at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Feb. 3:

The following is the gist of interpellations at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Feb. 2: