It’s the first release of 2008, but Seijigiri is still talking about the 2007 Diet session, which has been extended beyond the new year. Of course, the main reason for the extension has been to pass a new bill allowing the Maritime Self-Defense Forces to return to their refueling mission in support of coalition forces in the Indian Ocean.

Just before this release was recorded, the Upper House voted 133-106 to reject the bill, as expected. The Lower House countered by using its supermajority in a third vote to push the bill through with a 340-133 vote (the Upper House voted for the law back on November 13; Yes, that’s how long this has been dragged out).

In this edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley start things off by discussing the extended diet session and what we learned from it. Will domestic issues come back to the forefront now that the refueling bill and the Moriya scandal are out of the way? Has either major party learned much from the results of last July’s Upper House election?

The discussion then moves into developments with social insurance, pensions, consumer affairs and the battle over who may be the next Governor of the Bank of Japan. These are some of the domestically-focused, bread-and-butter issues where we expect to see the focus of the government shift to in 2008, especially if there is to be the possibility of an election in the lower house.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Shisaku
What Japan Thinks
We here at TPR are quite fond of both and recommend them highly.

Also great for news on and analysis of Japanese politics and more (and also highly recommended by TPR):
Observing Japan
Global Talk 21

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