TOKYO - Japan's parliament convened for a 150-day ordinary session on Monday, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government set to be grilled over possible tax hikes that would cover a planned expansion of defense spending and policies related to raising children.
In the regular Diet session through June 21, ruling and opposition parties are also expected to clash over the budget for the next fiscal year starting in April alongside other key bills, including one regarding nuclear reactors.
During the session, a spate of local elections is scheduled to be held in spring, while Japan is also slated to host the Group of Seven summit in May in Kishida's constituency of Hiroshima, a western Japan city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in August 1945.
Kishida will take questions from representatives of each party from Wednesday after delivering a policy speech on the opening day of the latest parliamentary session.
On Monday, Kishida made the address without wearing a protective face mask, as his government has begun easing restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, moving toward normalizing social and economic activities in Japan.
Last week, the ruling and opposition camps agreed to relax rules on masks at the parliament, imposed since April 2020. Participants other than speakers will continue to be requested to wear masks, lawmakers said.
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