The opposition-controlled Upper House passed an unprecedented, but nonbinding, censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, hoping to marshal public discontent with his stagnant administration into calls for a snap election.
But Fukuda and his Cabinet are set to ignore the long-threatened motion, and it is unlikely the opposition camp, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, will force him to dissolve the Lower House.
"I listened carefully to (the reasons given by the opposition parties for submitting the censure motion) and seriously take to heart each" point, Fukuda told reporters Wednesday evening, while dismissing in the same breath any chance of dissolving the Lower House and calling for an election in the near future.