When the government submitted a set of emergency-response bills to the Diet in April, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was breaking a decades-long taboo under the war-renouncing Constitution.

But as the 192-day Diet session closes Wednesday, momentum for enactment of the contentious legislation appears to be quickly waning.

The first of its kind since the war, the legislation would stipulate how Japan can respond to a military attack, and would give the prime minister clear powers to ensure the Self-Defense Forces react smoothly in such an emergency.