The ruling coalition rammed controversial pension reform bills through a Lower House welfare committee on Friday amid a boycott by opposition parties.
Dozens of angry opposition lawmakers mobbed committee chairman Kazuo Eguchi of the Liberal Democratic Party, trying in vain to prevent a vote on the bills at the committee meeting Friday night.
But Yutaka Fukushima of New Komeito read out a prepared text explaining the pension reform bills, and Eguchi declared the bills passed with support from the ruling coalition -- the LDP, Liberal Party and New Komeito.
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