Fukuda censured by Diet upper house

Japan's prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, suffered an unprecedented censure in parliament's upper house yesterday, but the embarrassing opposition move was not expected to force him to resign or call a snap poll soon.

The opposition Democratic Party and smaller allies approved the non-binding censure motion by a vote of 131-105, the first against a prime minister under the current 1947 constitution, in an effort to build momentum for an early lower house election.

Ruling party officials brushed off the censure, which comes less than a month before Fukuda hosts a Group of Eight summit, as a political gesture and submitted a confidence motion to the powerful lower chamber as a counter-move.