The hotly contested postal-privatization bills that have been at the center of a political firestorm this year were finally approved Friday, passing through a House of Councilors plenary session with relative ease.
The same chamber had killed a set of practically identical bills on Aug. 8, triggering a House of Representatives election and precipitating seismic changes to the nation's political landscape.
On that occasion, 22 lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party had voted against the bills, while a further eight were absent or refrained from voting to protest Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the main proponent of the bills.