With only days left before the end of the fiscal year, parliament has yet to pass the budget for fiscal 2025 — a rare situation in Japan, where getting it passed before April is seen as the government’s most pressing mission.
Over the last few days, negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties intensified, with the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition pushing for a vote in the Upper House by Monday, the last day of the 2024 fiscal year.
The opposition, meanwhile, is walking a fine line between trying to appear as responsible parties — or just not being seen as the villains that block the budget — and playing just enough hardball with the government to raise their profile ahead of the Upper House election in the summer.
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