The extraordinary Diet session effectively closed Saturday morning after the House of Councilors enacted the state secrecy law despite raucous protests from the opposition camp.
In his policy speech in October, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said it would be a "growth strategy Diet" session, but critics said it was actually a "state secrecy Diet session" because much of the time was spent deliberating the contentious secrets bill at the expense of other legislation, such as amendments to the civil servants law or approval of an atomic energy agreement with Turkey, which is necessary to export power plant technology and equipment.
"Abe basically in June promised by the end of the year sweeping structural reform, but I do not think anybody believes that he has seized the chance," said Jeff Kingston, a professor at Temple University's Japan Campus. "He spent political capital on the secrecy and the national security council bills."