Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met separately with top opposition leaders Wednesday, seeking nonpartisan cooperation to swiftly enact a special emergency law.
The law would allow the government to dramatically expand emergency legal powers, curbing the daily activities of citizens and businesses in hope of combating the COVID-19 crisis.
A majority of lawmakers have basically approved the idea of amending a 2013 law originally designed to cope with a global pandemic of a deadly influenza strain.