The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its two junior coalition partners agreed Wednesday to call an extraordinary session of the Diet from Oct. 23 to Nov. 30, coalition lawmakers said.
The DPJ, Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) agreed on the schedule at a meeting of their Diet affairs chiefs Wednesday morning and will propose it to the opposition Thursday, the lawmakers said.
The Diet affairs chiefs also confirmed at the meeting that the coalition will submit about 10 bills to the Diet, including one to freeze the government's planned sale of Japan Post shares, and steps aimed at supporting small firms financially, likely with a conditional moratorium on debt repayments.
"The opposition camp proposed to the prime minister's office that the extra session be called early," DPJ Diet affairs chief Kenji Yamaoka told reporters after the meeting. "With that in mind, we want to open the session three days earlier (than originally planned)."
Soon after the extra Diet session opens, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will deliver his first speeches as Prime Minister to the Upper and Lower houses on Sept. 16 and answer questions from party representatives for the next several days.
Hatoyama's DPJ won a landslide victory in the Lower House election in late August, trouncing the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.