The ruling bloc -- the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito -- and the Democratic Party of Japan submitted separate bills Friday to the Diet with their separate visions for procedures for holding a national referendum to amend the Constitution.
The ruling bloc had tried to secure the support of its bill from the leading opposition party but they could not agree on several key points.
The biggest difference in the bills is that the ruling coalition has limited the procedures to those for amending the Constitution, whereas the DPJ bill covers all major state issues.