The Diet got down to business Wednesday with a plenary session in which party representatives posed questions to the government. Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, a former finance minister and now an opposition leader, led off by grilling Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in the Lower House.

Mr. Tanigaki said measures in the Democratic Party of Japan's election manifesto are not feasible and that people cannot entrust Japan's future to the DPJ-led government because its policies and operating style are problematic. He accused the Hatoyama administration of seeking a conflicting policy of "high welfare benefits with low tax burdens," adding that this would eventually swell government debt and, hence, people's financial burdens.

He also said the inconsistency he sees in the views aired by the prime minister and other Cabinet members on such issues as the reloaction of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Facility in Okinawa and the Maritime Self-Defense Force's fueling mission in the Indian Ocean could undermine trust between Japan and the United States, thus jeopardizing Japan's security.

In reply, Mr. Hatoyama called the DPJ's election manifesto a public contract and said he will "take responsibility as a politician" if people judge the efforts to carry out the manifesto's measures as a failure. As for Futenma, he said only that he won't make a final decision until after he examines the Japan-U.S. accord with regard to the issue and considers the feelings of Okinawans.

Stating that he has no intention of staging political wrangles for their own sake, Mr. Tanigaki said he will instead make counterproposals that deepen discussion in the people's interest. It is hoped that the LDP will put its extensive governing experience to use by making Diet discussions more constructive.

The DPJ refrained from taking questions during a plenary session of the Lower House, and will likely to do the same in budget committee sessions, since it views the administration and the ruling party as one and the same. DPJ secretary general Ichiro Ozawa should rethink this policy, though, as it damages the fundamental functioning of the Diet.