The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komeito on May 11 solidified plans to put the so-called "anti-conspiracy bill" to a vote in the House of Representatives May 18.
The ruling coalition's plan to put the bill to revise the Act for Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds -- which includes a clause to criminalize acts of preparation to commit crimes even if those crimes are ultimately not carried out -- to a vote in the lower house plenary session, will most likely be met with strong objections from the Democratic Party (DP), the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and other opposition parties.
To mitigate the impression that the ruling coalition is steamrolling what it calls a "bill that would criminalize acts of preparations to commit crimes such as terrorism," through the lower house, it has reached an agreement with Nippon Ishin (the Japan Innovation Party), which is not a member of the ruling coalition, to modify the bill and work together toward passing the bill.
The bill has so far been deliberated in the House of Representatives Committee on Judicial Affairs for approximately 19 hours, excluding time spent hearing testimony from experts, and is scheduled to be discussed for seven hours on May 12.
Read the full story at The Mainichi