Older lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party may be feeling particularly jittery as speculation of an early dissolution of the Lower House for a snap election circulates in Nagata-cho.
As part of efforts to rejuvenate its ranks, the LDP is mulling the introduction of a system requiring its House of Representatives members elected on the party's proportional representation ticket to retire if they are 73 by the next general election.
While the current four-year term of Lower House members runs through June 2004, it is widely believed that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose term as LDP president expires in September, will dissolve the chamber sometime this year.