Japan’s ruling party defeated a no-confidence motion yesterday against the prime minister’s Cabinet, but an increasingly bold opposition used the occasion to heap criticism on the government it aims to oust in national elections next month.
The powerful lower house of parliament, which is controlled by the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, easily voted down the motion, 333 to 139.
The Democratic Party of Japan and other opposing parties submitted the motion to create a forum to criticize Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso’s government, which is reeling from a ruling party loss this weekend in Tokyo municipal elections seen as a barometer of voter sentiment.
PHOTO: REUTERS
After the results were released Monday, Aso said he would dissolve parliament next week and call general elections for Aug. 30. The leader of the party that wins will almost certainly become Japan’s next prime minister.
A censure motion against Aso, with little purpose other than to embarrass him, passed the upper house later yesterday afternoon. The upper house, the weaker of the two, is under the control of the opposition.
In a raucous session by the lower house of parliament, Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the opposing Democrats, gave a wide-ranging criticism of Japan’s current leadership.
“Prime Minister Aso has only clung to his post. The employment situation has worsened as he repeated pork-barrel handouts in obvious vote-buying, none of which has helped to improve the lives of the people,” Hatoyama said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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