Japan's Upper House to Be Renamed Senate

Tokyo, July 23 (Jiji Press)--The board of the steering committee at Japan's House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, decided Thursday to change the English name of the chamber to the Senate.

In line with the name change, members of the upper chamber of Japan's Diet will be called senators.

The change comes as the upper chamber's current name sometimes causes confusion outside of Japan about its members' status as lawmakers, as councillors can mean members of a council.

According to the chamber's secretariat, the upper chamber of many bicameral legislatures abroad is referred to as the Senate, and its members are called senators.

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