Upper house committee passes casino bill
Jiji -- Jul 20
Japan's ruling coalition passed a casino resort bill through the Cabinet Committee of the House of Councillors on Thursday afternoon.

With the ongoing parliamentary session set to close on Sunday, the ruling camp, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, is now determined to have the bill enacted at a full Upper House session on Friday.

Meanwhile, major opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, prepared a no-confidence motion against the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a bid to prevent the enactment of the bill, which cleared the House of Representatives in June.

At a committee meeting earlier on Thursday, the opposition parties submitted a no-confidence motion against Upper House President Chuichi Date, condemning him for following the ruling coalition's stance of giving priority to enacting the bill over responding to fatal mudslides and floods caused by the torrential rain that chiefly hit western Japan earlier this month.

But the motion was voted down mainly by the ruling parties at a plenary meeting of the upper chamber. After this, the ruling camp reopened the committee session to put the bill to a vote.

News source: Jiji