They filed frivolous no-confidence motions. They made long-winded speeches to explain them. One employed the “cow walk,” moving slowly like a cow to the podium to vote on a motion.
Japanese opposition parties yesterday pulled out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to block a vote on security bills that would fundamentally change the way Japan uses its military, a highly sensitive issue in a nation where many take pride in its pacifist constitution.
Lawmakers met all day and into the evening before an expected late-night vote by the Upper House to allow Japan to go into combat to defend nations other than itself for the first time since the end of World War II, after which Japan adopted a constitution that renounces the right to wage war.
Photo: Reuters
The opposition’s tactics caused longer-than-expected delays, though the eventual passage of the bills is all but assured because of the ruling bloc’s majority.
Opposition Democratic Party of Japan leader Katsuya Okada said it would do “whatever it takes” to block a vote.
The bills have already passed the more powerful Lower House.
Joined by several other opposition parties, the Democrats submitted no-confidence motions in the Upper House against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani and Upper House President Masaaki Yamazaki. The motions were all voted down, but each took several hours to complete.
One opposition lawmaker, Taro Yamamoto, used a snail-paced “cow walk” to shuffle to the podium, while others made drawn-out speeches, a variation that has become known as the “cow tongue.”
Yamamoto wore a black suit and tie with Buddhist prayer beads around his wrist, as if attending a funeral.
He was repeatedly scolded by the house president, who eventually banned any more “cow walk” attempts.
The legislation would allow the military to defend Japan’s allies even when the nation is not under attack, work more closely with the US and other allies, and do more in international peacekeeping.
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