Japan Ruling Bloc to Revise Secondary Capital Bill

Tokyo, June 22 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the junior coalition partner of her Liberal Democratic Party, on Monday and called for accepting a revision to a secondary capital bill drafted by the ruling parties, in order to enact the bill during the current Diet session.

As Yoshimura showed a flexible stance, the bill is now expected to be submitted to the Diet after being revised.

Takaichi sought the deletion of a provision that allows a prefecture-wide referendum on shifting to an administrative structure similar to Tokyo's. The LDP's local chapter in Osaka Prefecture, the home turf of the JIP, suspects that the JIP intends to use the provision to promote the so-called Osaka metropolis plan.

After the meeting, Yoshimura told reporters that his party will consider the deletion of the provision.

Meanwhile, Takaichi separately told reporters that she and Yoshimura did not discuss expanding the ruling coalition.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]