By engaging in blatant partisan politics and passing a censure motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Upper House on June 26, the Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties killed a chance to pass six bills that were almost certain to be enacted. Among them was a bill to revise the Electric Utility Power Industry Law for reform of the nation's power industry. This is utterly deplorable and shows that the opposition cares more about scoring political points than acting in the best interests of the people.

The bill, based on the experience of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and the closure of many nuclear power plants, was ultimately aimed at diversifying energy sources by building a large number of small-size power plants and locating them close to the communities that they serve.

The opposition parties' shirking of its responsibility is especially grave because the nation's major power companies and their labor unions will take advantage of the abandonment of the bill and seek to weaken or even gut it.