Pension reform proposals put forward by the Democratic Party of Japan set the stage for a political showdown with the ruling bloc over what figures to be a key issue in the House of Councilors election in July.
According to the health ministry, Japan today has more than 30 million pensioners.
"They're highly interested in the pension reform issue" even though it is in fact the younger generations who will be most affected by the fate of the public pension program, a senior government official said.