The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday criticized as "full of holes" that obliges politicians' fund-management bodies to report expenditures over 50,000 yen, as the ruling coalition scrambled to mitigate the fallout from the May suicide of farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party are trying to pass as many "reform" bills as possible before the Diet session closes on June 23 to draw the curtains on its many scandals, which have sent Abe's public support ratings plummeting since he took office last year.
Matsuoka was under fire in part because his fund management body reported enormous office expenses despite using a rent-free office that was exempt from paying utilities.