One-hundred fifty days, some 100 laws and 16 treaties later, the ruling partnership is still intact, at least on the surface.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two smaller non-Cabinet allies, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake, managed to remain together for the Diet session that ended June 18, accomplishing a great deal in the way of legislation but also leaving a number of key bills unpassed as they spent time trying to narrow their differences.
These bills include one to create a public nursing care insurance system for ailing elderly, a bill to promote activities of nonprofit organizations, a soccer lottery bill and a bill to revise the Law for Oath, Testimony, etc. of Witnesses at the Diet to allow live broadcast of Diet testimony.