At the House of Representatives Plenary Session in the afternoon of Dec. 12, DPJ House of Representatives member Takeshi Shina argued for supporting the proposal for revising an amendment to the bill to strengthen financial systems, which has been revised at the House of Councilors and sent to the Lower House.

Shina argued, with regard to the purposes of the law, that the Upper House’ revisions were necessary and reasonable as they enabled small and medium-sized businesses to raise funds smoothly and made it impossible to inject capital to Shinginko Tokyo, and called for approving votes.

Having been a Long-Term Credit Bank (LTCB) employee, he pointed out, "Putting off the solution to this problem would lead to collapse," and "Human beings can survive even from the nadir as long as they keep having hope. The then LTCB employees feared that they would lose their means of livelihood. However, we continued our efforts without abandoning our hope. As a result, many of my former colleagues are now flourishing in various fields, contributing to society."

He also said, "Due to the rapid deterioration of the employment situation, many people had bitter experiences. Some are facing the withdrawal of employment offers, and others have lost their jobs and houses. The DPJ promises to enrich the safety net for employment, so that such people can keep having their hope."

The revision by the Upper House was voted down, and the ruling party proposed a motion that the original bill of the Lower House should be approved.

In response to this suggestion, DPJ House of Representatives member Yoshito Sengoku offered a counterargument. He criticized that the attempt of adopting the revision by the Upper House by utilizing the two-thirds provision at the Lower House is "an extraordinary case, which is the first since 1957, in half a century."

He also argued, "Many citizens intuitively feel that the current regime of the LDP should be dissolved and removed, and a new regime should be established in the hollow political field. Through a snap election, new political power and a new government must be developed based on emerging public opinions."

In addition, he concluded that the adopting of the revision "would cause absolutely no advantages, but disadvantages to Japan." Then, he argued, "the amendment would bail out the banks that are practically managed by municipalities, such as Shinginko Tokyo, without questioning their management responsibilities." He reminded other lawmakers the responsibility of politics and prompted to object to the ruling party’s suggestion, but the motion was passed by a majority.

The amendment to the bill to strengthen financial systems was readopted by a two-thirds majority.