With the current Diet session winding down, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces tight time constraints in parliament after a delay in the passage of a political funds bill through the House of Representatives.
The House of Councilors on Friday began deliberations on the bill to revise the political funds control law, drawn up in response to a slush fund scandal at Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties, criticizing the LDP's bill as flawed, are gearing up to grill his administration in Upper House deliberations, and may consider submitting a no-confidence resolution against the Cabinet.