TOKYO -- With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe facing a growing political scandal, his ruling party resorted to a strong-arm tactic of forcing a quick floor vote on a controversial anti-conspiracy bill, aiming to divert public attention while scoring a legislative win.
"We can't do something like that!" Kazuya Shimba, who heads the leading opposition Democratic Party's Diet affairs committee for the upper house, exclaimed in a meeting Wednesday. "It would be suicide for the upper house. We haven't even deliberated."
