Debate in an election-year Diet session is liable to lead to confrontation. So it was with the 150-day regular session that ended Wednesday. With an Upper House ballot set for next month, the ruling and opposition parties faced off on both domestic and foreign policy issues, sometimes resorting to heavy-handed tactics. Generally, however, the debate was long on rhetoric and short on substance.

Nevertheless, the marathon session proved efficient, with almost all of the key government bills voted into law. These include a set of bills related to military emergency legislation, including one designed to evacuate residents when the country is attacked or faces an imminent attack. A bill for bolstering smaller banks through "preemptive" cash infusion was also enacted.

The ruling parties may have reason to congratulate themselves on the legislative record, but the ways in which they railroaded a number of important bills smacked of arrogance. The banking bill, for example, was rushed through the Upper House without putting it to a committee vote, although there was nothing technically wrong with that.