Overview
- The lower-house special committee agreed to restart consideration of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party’s 'vice-capital' package on Friday, but lawmakers say its approval by the Diet’s July 17 session end remains unclear.
- Opposition parties re-submitted a new Minamata victims’ relief bill to the upper house, but lawmakers and analysts view its enactment during this session as unlikely given the compressed schedule and partisan disputes.
- Narita International Airport stakeholders, including the airport company and the transport ministry, agreed on Friday to begin formal procedures under Japan’s Land Expropriation Law for roughly 53 hectares where landowners have not reached voluntary deals.
- The Fair Trade Commission issued a nationwide-first recommendation under the revised subcontracting rules against Minébea Access Solutions for requiring unpaid loading and unloading work by a contracted carrier and ordered steps to prevent recurrence.
- Separate legal and policy developments progressed: the Sapporo court finished pretrial procedures in the Ebetsu fatal assault case with key defendants expected to admit charges, and the Ministry of Education proposed linking national university core funding to CPI and personnel-cost indices targeting 2028 implementation.