TOKYO -- After the passage of the fiscal 2016 budget Tuesday, Japan's legislature is turning its attention to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and related bills, with the ruling coalition seeking quick passage and opposition parties ready to push back.
The two sides agreed Tuesday to begin deliberating when the lower house convenes April 5. After this, the TPP committee headed by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Koya Nishikawa, a former agriculture minister, will start discussing the measures in earnest.