The Japanese political world entered a summer recess when the extended ordinary Diet session closed Aug. 13. The session, convoked in January and extended in June for 57 days, passed a series of important bills, thanks to a legislative tieup among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party (the LDP's junior coalition partner), and New Komeito. The LDP, headed by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, formed a coalition in January with the LP, led by Ichiro Ozawa. Toward the end of the extended Diet session, New Komeito agreed to join the ruling coalition, giving the three parties a combined majority in both houses of the Diet and providing solid support to the Obuchi administration.
Among the bills enacted in the session were the fiscal 1999 government budget and legislation for reorganizing the central bureaucracy and decentralizing power, implementation of the updated guidelines for Japan-U.S. defense cooperation, legalization of the national anthem and flag, wiretapping in police investigations into organized crime and the requirement of identification numbers for all citizens. In passing this legislation, the LDP-LP-New Komeito forces won a crushing legislative victory over the opposition camp.
The top opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, was divided by infighting over policy differences. The DPJ managed to forge a legislative tieup with the Japan Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party near the close of the session, but the opposition alliance was no match against the LDP-LP-New Komeito forces.