March 14, 2026

A record initial state budget for fiscal 2026 was approved by Japan's lower house on Friday evening with the backing of the ruling coalition's supermajority, amid criticism that the bill was pressed ahead despite controversies surrounding its contents and unusually shortened deliberations.

The total size of the draft budget exceeds 122.31 trillion yen (about $769 billion), a record high, with the defense budget also setting a new record at over 9 trillion yen for the first time. The proposal has sparked ongoing debate in Japan since the government unveiled the draft late last year.

However, local media pointed out that the deliberation time for the budget bill in the House of Representatives was significantly shortened to about 59 hours, the shortest since 2000.

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https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-03-14/Japan-ruling-bloc-passes-FY2026-budget-in-lower-house-amid-criticism-1LvzsjR7Jyo/p.html