Dismayed at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's inaction, the opposition camp on Thursday repeated its petition to his Cabinet to call an extraordinary Diet session and urged the leader to take responsibility for appointing gaffe-prone Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.
Thursday's move by opposition parties followed a similar request lodged with Lower House Speaker Tadamori Oshima last week.
Invoking Article 53 of the Constitution, the opposition — the Democratic Party, Japanese Communist Party, Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party — has demanded that the Abe Cabinet swiftly convene a Diet session to publicly explain a series of scandals plaguing the administration.