Tokyo DispatchJapan, in EnglishMizuoka of the Constitutional Democratic Party says the departure of Ishiba and three other Lower House members over a food tax cut bill could sway how ruling party lawmakers vote in the Upper House.
The consumption tax on food falls to 1% for two years from April 2027, but the minority government must now win over opposition parties in the upper house.
Nobuo Kitamura told the Upper House judicial affairs committee that officials waited too long to act on an unapproved mosque in a restricted zone in Saitama, and called for faster enforcement nationwide.
The finance minister dropped into a Christmas illumination event and reported the lower house passage of the consumption tax cut bill.
