The Democratic Party of Japan said Tuesday it will demand that actress Makiko Esumi be summoned as an unsworn witness to the Diet over her failure to pay her pension premiums. Esumi starred in a 380 million yen government ad campaign calling on the public to make proper payments into the mandatory scheme.
DPJ chief Naoto Kan also indicated that, if this step is not taken, the main opposition party will not agree to launch Diet debate on a package of pension reform bills submitted by the government to the current Diet session.