Parliament enacted a bill on Wednesday to give the central government power to issue necessary instructions to local governments in the event of emergencies such as disasters and pandemics.
The bill to revise the local autonomy law was approved at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of the Diet, after passing the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, last month.
The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito in the ruling camp, and Nippon Ishin no Kai, were among those that supported the bill, while the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and the Japanese Communist Party voted against it.
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