Two weeks after Sanseito’s breakthrough in July's Upper House election, its newly elected lawmakers gathered in parliament in the middle of the Bon holiday for what might seem, at first glance, an unusual purpose: training.
In the following three weeks, the lawmakers, unfamiliar with the intricacies of parliament, went through marathon sessions of training — crash courses on anything from how to build rapport with bureaucrats and the ABCs of lawmaking to the party’s philosophical standing.
The training sessions featured simulations of parliamentary committees, complete with mock questioning of the prime minister, and hands-on dissection of bills.
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