Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed Friday to prop up the economy by slashing wasteful spending, including reducing the ranks of lawmakers, while budgeting for projects that stimulate the job market and "bring back vigor."
Kan hopes the ruling and opposition camps can agree to reduce the Lower and Upper house numbers by the end of this year, he said in a rare news conference held on the first day of the extraordinary Diet session.
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which Kan heads, made it an election campaign pledge to cut around 80 of the 480 Lower House seats and some 40 in the 242-seat Upper House. The DPJ will begin internal discussions next week.