Lawmakers on the back benches chat with one another, another dozes off while yet others have simply skipped the committee session altogether
People jokingly talk about the "chaos in the Diet," likening the situation in the legislature to the problem of classroom collapse, caused by unruly students refusing to obey rules and teachers' orders.
In the initial weeks of the current Diet session, which opened in January, the Lower House Budget Committee saw a spate of heated debates between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Naoto Kan, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan.