A new political season begins in Japan when an extraordinary Diet session starts later this month.
Among the legislation to be presented to the session will be bills that would ban influence-peddling by lawmakers, lower the age at which juvenile offenders become subject to criminal punishment (it is currently 16; the legislation will lower it to 14), and give voting rights to permanent foreign residents in Japan. The session will also discuss the pros and cons of overhauling public-works projects and of compiling a fiscal 2000 supplementary budget. In December, the Diet will consider a fiscal 2001 budget.
Also in December, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori must drastically reshuffle his Cabinet to accommodate the reorganization of the central bureaucracy into a Cabinet office and 12 ministries and agencies in January. Depending on developments, Mori could be replaced along with the rest of the government.