Japanese Opposition Lawmaker Seeks Land Minister to Focus on Floods

July 12, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese parliament should help the land minister focus on a response to floods in western Japan, a senior lawmaker at the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said Thursday.

Masayoshi Nataniya, House of Councillors affairs chief at the CDPJ, objected to land minister Keiichi Ishii attending Upper House deliberations on a bill to introduce casinos in the country at a time when the damage from the flooding was spreading.

"It's disgraceful for parliament to be seen as prioritizing casinos over people's lives," Nataniya told reporters.

Nataniya said the Democratic Party for the People, the main opposition party in the Upper House, declined his party's offer to discuss the matter. The DPFP's stance is extremely regrettable and incomprehensible, he said. Jiji Press