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On August 7, the Diet Affairs chiefs of the DPJ, Your Party, the Japanese Communist Party, the People’s Life Party and the Social Democratic Party met and agreed to submit a statement to the Prime Minister’s Office criticizing comments made by Deputy Prime Minister Aso that included references to the Nazi regime.
In a press conference following the meeting, DPJ Diet Affairs Committee Chair Yoshiaki Takaki said that the ruling parties had made absolutely no response to the opposition parties’ call for the issue to be the subject of intensive debate in the House of Representatives Committee on Budget, made in a joint meeting of the Diet Affairs chiefs of the ruling and opposition parties held August 6. He explained that following this the opposition parties had each taken time to consider their response, with the result being that all opposition parties apart from the Japan Restoration Party had decided to submit a joint statement criticizing Aso’s remarks.
The opposition parties tried to deliver their protest to the Prime Minister’s Office later the same day but their requests for a meeting were rejected and the PMO even refused to accept the document itself.
An English translation of the statement is available below.
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