In a marathon, 28-hour plenary session, the Upper House on Thursday approved two controversial bills -- one to authorize wiretapping in organized crime investigations and another to have each citizen numbered for administrative purposes.
After voting down a raft of opposition-proposed motions, including one to censure Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, the 252-seat upper chamber passed a package of antiorganized crime bills 142 to 99, and the amendment to the Law of the Basic Resident Registers 146-93.
The anti-crime package features one piece of legislation that allows law enforcement authorities to eavesdrop on communications in certain types of investigations.