A bill to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement and TPP related bills were passed at a November 4 session of the lower house TPP special committee by a majority vote of members of ruling parties and an opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party).
The ruling bloc rammed the TPP bills through the special committee, while members of the opposition Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party had walked out of the committee meeting to express their protest against holding the committee vote without the resignation of Agricultural Minister Yuji Yamamoto, who had repeated gaffes recent weeks.
The opposition parties continue to strongly protest passing of the TPP bills by planning to submit a no-confidence motion against Minister Yamamoto as well as to demand a cancel of the committee voting on November 4.
A tug-of-war over a voting schedule at a House of Representatives plenary session will also continue till next week.
The November 4 session of the TPP special committee was held by an official authority of the committee chairman Ryu Shionoya.
Lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party surrounded a desk of the chairman and fiercely protested against him to brock railroading of the TPP bills. Chairman Shionoya and ruling bloc members, however, pushed the bills through the committee.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in the session of the TPP special committee. And a member of the opposition Japan Restoration Party raised an overall question on the TPP bills to finalize the deliberation at the committee, while members of the opposition Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party refused to attend the session.