Spotlight: Japan kicks off parliament session with TPP, constitutional change in focus

Japan's National Diet kicked off a 66-day extraordinary session on Monday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies, as well as whether to swiftly ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and to change the pacifist Constitution, under the spotlight.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe, taking TPP as a pillar of his economic strategy, has been calling for the pact's swift ratification since it was signed by Japan and 11 other countries in February.

In a policy speech delivered Monday, the prime minister said that the early ratification of the TPP would present a major opportunity for domestic farmers.

"Using the early entry into force of the TPP as a chance, we will aim to reach a target of 1 trillion yen (in annual agricultural exports) early," Abe said.

The prime minister also hopes that Japan's ratification would spur the deal's passage in the U.S. Congress, analysts here have said.

"Japan wants to take lead to create an atmosphere for the TPP pact to come into effect as early as possible," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference Monday.

However, with both of the U.S. presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party, openly against the pact, the future of the TPP is at bay.

The opposition parties in Japan have also vowed to block the ratification of the TPP pact, saying that the pact failed to protect Japan's national interests.

Another key issue during the parliament session is expected to be constitutional change, though Abe, trying to keep the spotlight on economy, only made a brief reference to his constitutional change plans in his policy speech Monday.

"The way the Constitution should be, the kind of country Japan should aim to be -- these things are not decided by the government, but by the people, and it is our responsibility as Diet lawmakers to communicate such plans to the people," Abe said in his speech.

Debates are expected to be held in the Constitution commissions of the two parliament chambers.

Altering the pacifist Constitution has been one of Abe's long-standing goals. With gains in July's upper house election, Abe's ruling bloc and like-minded forces in favor of changing the Constitution now take up two-thirds of both chambers of the parliament, a prerequisite for proposing constitutional amendments.

In his policy speech Monday, Abe also laid out the key economic growth drivers his government will focus on, including workplace and agricultural reforms, as well as deploying a 28 trillion yen stimulus package.

Regarding Abe's economic plans, Renho, newly-elected leader of Japan's largest opposition Democratic Party, said that they lack focus. She also said that Abe's economic policies dubbed as "Abenomics" shall be terminated.

Kazuo Shii, head of the Japanese Communist Party, said that holding Diet discussions on constitutional change based on the Liberal Democratic Party's draft would be "intolerable."

"The opposition parties shall unite together to fight against the Abe government's attempt to revise the pacifist Constitution," he said. Endit