After much political wrangling, the House of Representatives has passed the bills relating to the new defense guidelines between Japan and the United States. Deliberations in the House of Councilors got under way April 28. With the full cooperation of the Liberal Party and Komeito, and with the partial cooperation of the Democratic Party, these bills are very likely to be approved by the Upper House. It is not certain, however, whether final approval will be given before the scheduled adjournment of the current Diet session June 17.

Having cleared a major hurdle with the passage of these bills, the Diet this week started tackling 17 bills relating to the reorganization of the nation's central administrative structure into one agency and 12 ministries. Many difficulties lie in the path of the government's efforts to get these bills passed by the Diet before it adjourns June 17. Toward the end of May, therefore, the Liberal-Democratic Party will probably start arguing for an extension of the current Diet session. In my opinion, there is no choice but to extend the session by a month or so.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and other leaders of the LDP appear relieved by the passage of the defense-guidelines bills by the Lower House. I have serious doubts, however, whether the redesigned treaty ensures Japan's security in an event of an incident in the Far East.