Progress on casino legislation in Japan unlikely on this Diet

The extraordinary session of the Japanese Diet was inaugurated this week, centrally featuring the launch of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 4th Cabinet. However, the plan proposed by the government is to end the new Diet session after an unusually short period of only eight days.

There is unlikely to be any progress on IR-related legislation within such a narrow time frame, meaning that it would be delayed until next spring or early summer.

Moreover, Prime Minister Abe has picked a fight with the opposition parties by demanding that their allotted proportion of time for asking questions about government legislation be slashed by about 40 percent.

The disruption caused by this heavy-handed move could also serve stall the parliamentary process.

The government does retain the option to extend the new Diet session beyond November 8, but there is at present no indication that they intend to do so.

Source: GMB / AG Brief