The debate over a revision of Japan's postwar Constitution remains at a standstill as the country marks 77 years since the top law came into effect.
With less than two months left before the June 23 closing of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote at best.
Following a large-scale slush funds scandal that has embroiled the LDP, lawmakers have turned all their attention to a review of the political funds control law, in a bid to tighten regulations on the handling of political funds and increase transparency.