Six opposition parties jointly refused Thursday to arrange any new Diet deliberations in protest over alleged sexual harassment of female reporters by a top Finance Ministry official.
The official had resigned abruptly over the claims the day before, but political turmoil from the scandal continued to play out as the opposition parties stepped up political pressure on Finance Minister Taro Aso to also resign immediately.
Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of largest opposition force the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, met his counterpart Toshihiro Nikai of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the Diet and demanded the immediate resignation of Aso, who was responsible for the appointment of ex-Vice Administrative Minister Junichi Fukuda.