TOKYO (Reuters) - In a stark reflection of Japan's political stalemate, parliament's lower house approved a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday, a day after the upper chamber adopted an unprecedented, but non-binding, censure of the unpopular leader.
The opposition Democratic Party and smaller allies pushed through the upper house censure motion on Wednesday, the first against a prime minister under the current 1947 constitution, in an effort to build momentum for an early lower house election.