Upper House Head to Urge GaaSyy to Attend Diet

Tokyo, Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)--Officials of the steering committee of the House of Councillors unanimously decided Friday to ask the president of the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, to call on YouTuber lawmaker GaaSyy to attend the ongoing regular Diet session.

Specifically, Junichi Ishii, head of the steering committee, will ask Upper House President Hidehisa Otsuji and Vice President Hiroyuki Nagahama to make the request in writing to GaaSyy, an Upper House member.

GaaSyy, a member of the NHK Party, a single-issue party critical of NHK, the public broadcaster officially called Japan Broadcasting Corp., is currently staying in the United Arab Emirates. He has not attended a Diet meeting since he won his Diet seat for the first time in the July 2022 Upper House election.

Otsuji is expected to issue the written request as early as Monday.

The Diet law stipulates that if a lawmaker fails to attend a Diet meeting without a convincing reason within seven days of receiving such a written request, the head of the Diet chamber to which the lawmaker in question belongs should refer the matter to the disciplinary committee.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]