All four opposition parties boycotted the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Wednesday after the ruling coalition refused to meet its demand that LDP members linked to the recent money-for-favors scandal testify in the committee.
But the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party all agreed to return to deliberations today after the ruling parties granted another demand that the number of days of the committee meetings be extended.
The coalition offered to extend the deliberations, which Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will attend, from two days to four.
Shizuka Kamei, the LDP's policy affairs council chief, and DPJ Secretary General Naoto Kan are among those expected to ask questions in today's deliberation.
The two key Liberal Democratic Party figures linked to the bribery scandal are Fukushiro Nukaga, former state minister of economic and fiscal policy, and Upper House member Masakuni Murakami.
Murakami has said he will testify under oath in the Upper House budget committee, but only after the budget for the next fiscal year passes the Lower House. Nukaga has said he is prepared to give unsworn testimony to the house's political ethics council, which conducts its business behind closed doors.