By Satoshi Iizuka,
Japan's parliament wrapped up its 150-day regular session Wednesday as support for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who put off an early lower house dissolution, is dropping amid worries over a controversy surrounding the national identification card system.
Key legislation the ruling bloc, comprising Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito, has enacted during the Diet's main session of the year included a law to fund a substantial expansion of defense spending.
Of 60 bills submitted by the government to the Diet during the latest session, 58, including one to revise the immigration and refugee law, were enacted into legislation.
In a major shift in energy policy, the Diet approved a bill to allow nuclear reactors to operate beyond the current limit of 60 years, despite lingering safety concerns.
In addition to government-sponsored bills, legislation aimed at promoting the understanding of the LGBT community, jointly submitted by the ruling camp and two conservative-leaning opposition parties, was also enacted.
On Friday, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan tabled a no-confidence motion against Kishida's Cabinet, claiming it failed to explain how it would fund important policies, including a plan to address Japan's rapidly declining birthrate. The motion was voted down in the House of Representatives.
Speculation had been rife that Kishida would dissolve the lower house for a snap election by the end of the Diet session on the back of a recovery in his Cabinet's approval ratings after he hosted the Group of Seven summit in May, but he ruled it out on Thursday.
Support for his Cabinet has slipped back recently due partly to revelations of the government's mishandlings of the "My Number" national identification card system, stirring public fears about privacy violations.
A Kyodo News survey over the weekend showed that the approval rating for Kishida's Cabinet plunged to 40.8 percent from 47.0 percent late last month.
At a press conference Wednesday, Kishida expressed a willingness to dispel public anxiety against a backdrop of a spate of registration errors and other administrative problems related to the My Number system.
Kishida said he has instructed relevant ministers to thoroughly review the system and implement necessary measures to prevent further trouble by this fall, adding his government has set up a headquarters to deal with the matter.
He said his government will maintain its plan to integrate health insurance cards into the My Number system next year.
Kishida may have his eye on a dissolution during an extraordinary parliamentary session set to be held in the fall, a source close to him said, adding he might reshuffle his Cabinet as early as August to freshen up the image of his government.
When asked about the timing of a personnel change, Kishida did not give a direct answer, saying only, "I will make a judgment" based on his Cabinet's "basic principle to tackle difficult challenges step by step without postponing them."
As the Diet session concluded, Kishida said he plans to attend a NATO summit in Lithuania in July and has scheduled visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar the same month.
On the diplomatic front, Kishida also reiterated his readiness to pave the way for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted in the 1970s and 1980s, many of whom would now be elderly.
A government source said Wednesday that Kishida is arranging to meet in July with Hitomi Soga, one of five Japanese abductees who repatriated from North Korea to their home country in 2002.
It would be the first time in five years for a Japanese prime minister to talk with Soga. In 2018, she met with then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Kishida is expected to convey his eagerness to solve the long-standing abduction issue during his talks with her, the source added.
As for China, Kishida said he will consider visiting the neighboring nation while closely communicating with each other at various levels, days after the United States, Japan's security ally, sent its top diplomat, Antony Blinken, to Beijing.
Kishida, meanwhile, vowed to stick to the government's pledge to sign a peace treaty with Russia after settling a territorial spat involving four northern islands. However, bilateral relations have worsened in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The dispute over the islets -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai island group -- stems from their seizure by the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, in the weeks following Japan's World War II surrender on Aug. 15, 1945. It has dissuaded the two countries from signing a peace treaty.
Since Russia launched an attack against Ukraine in February 2022, Japan has switched to a hardline stance in the decades-long territorial row, saying that the four islets are "illegally occupied" by Russia.
Related coverage:
Japan PM Kishida's support rate dives to 40.8% amid ID card fiasco
FOCUS: Japan PM may call snap election after showcasing diplomatic role
No-confidence motion against Kishida Cabinet voted down in parliament
