Six months after he took office, what is Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori aiming to achieve? Equally important, what does the opposition have to say about his policy -- or the lack thereof? These questions went largely unanswered during the Lower House debates that took place this week. The exchanges proved a dud, if anything, with government and opposition leaders going through the motions of fighting a battle of words.

That is regrettable, if only because clear and specific words are the best means of sending political messages to the people. True, the public's growing mistrust of politicians stems more from their deeds than their words. But this does not mean that their words are less important than their deeds. Still, there is not much sense in repeating the time-tested pattern of prepared questions and answers. It is time to revamp this cut-and-dried practice.

This is not to belittle the value of plenary debate, which is supposed to be a contest of political ideals and beliefs between leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. As such, the debate is designed to give the people a broad picture of where politicians are trying to lead the nation. This is particularly important in these times of coalition politics, when the policy lines dividing the ruling and opposition camps are not always clear.