Pension bill moves ahead as upper house campaign heats up | This Week in Japanese Politics

The LDP signs off on pension reform, Ishiba and Akazawa float trade trial balloons, and Ishiba talks free trade with international visitors

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The rundown

The Ishiba government is one step closer to submitting a controversial pension reform bill to the Diet, while the ruling and opposition parties continue to spar over consumption tax cuts as the upper house campaign heats up. Meanwhile, the Ishiba government has floated some trial balloons ahead of the next round of trade talks with the United States, while Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru talked free trade with visiting leaders, including World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretary-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Plus: data showed that foreign investors bought record numbers of Japanese assets in April. All of this and more in a new This Week in Japanese Politics.