Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met separately with top officials of various political parties Monday and received a less-than-warm response from opposition leaders to compromises made within the ruling camp over key defense bills.
Obuchi and top officials of his Liberal Democratic Party held the meetings at the Prime Minister's Official Residence with the Liberal Party, the LDP's coalition partner; New Komeito, which works with the LDP on some issues; and opposition parties the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.
The meetings were ostensibly for Obuchi to fill in the party heads on his agenda for his visit to the United States later this week. But the focus was on bills related to the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.
Earlier in the day, a Lower House special committee passed the bills, but only after making several revisions. The revised bills are likely to be approved by the chamber at its plenary session today.
During his meeting with Obuchi, DPJ head Naoto Kan criticized the various compromises made the night before among the LDP, the Liberal Party and New Komeito regarding amendments to the bills.
Kan maintained that the three parties made the compromises to ensure they would clear the Lower House before Obuchi's visit, which begins Thursday, so that the prime minister could present them to the U.S. as a souvenir, Kan told reporters after the meeting.
Other opposition leaders also voiced discontent over the process by which the ruling camp secured Lower House passage of the guidelines bills.