Diet Ends Regular Session after Many Unusual Events

   Tokyo, June 23 (Jiji Press)--This year's ordinary Diet session ended on Sunday, after many unusual events in which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government was forced to walk a tightrope.
   The biggest challenge for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition in the first half of the session, which began on Jan. 24, was to gain the cooperation of opposition parties to enact the government's budget for fiscal 2025.
   In December, the ruling bloc secured the cooperation of the Democratic Party for the People to pass a fiscal 2024 supplementary budget, by promising to raise the taxable income threshold and abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate.
   However, the ruling bloc failed to clinch the DPFP's support for the fiscal 2025 budget, as their talks on the taxable income threshold reached a stalemate.
   The ruling coalition then turned to Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party). The two sides concluded a deal on tuition-free high school education and revised the fiscal 2025 budget just before a vote in the House of Representatives. As a result, Nippon Ishin threw its support behind the budget bill.

(2025/06/23-00:30)