Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is still confident that he will obtain an extension of the anti-terror law which has been top of the Japanese parliament's agenda ever since he took up his post a month ago.

Under the anti-terror law, which expires on November 1,, the Japanese navy has been providing logistical support to the US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan. Until now, the support has been restricted to refuelling the allied troops' warships.

The new extension would also provide the allies with water and fuel. To gain opposition support, the government is willing to limit the extension to one year and to limit the mission to providing fuel and water.

Strong resistance

But there is still strong resistance. Asuma Koshiishi is an influential opposition politician in the Upper House: "There is no reason to just wave this through so fast. It should first be made clear whether the existing anti-terror law has even worked before we can talk about a new law."

With its two-thirds majority in the Lower House, the government can technically pass the law without the Upper House's approval, but Fukuda is, nonetheless, coming under increasing pressure.

All sorts of inconsistencies have come to light regarding the mission over the past few days. Whereas the talk has generally been of 200,000 litres of fuel being supplied to US aircraft carriers, an internal investigation has revealed a more accurate figure of 800,000 litres of fuel. The Prime Minister has apologised before parliament:

"What happened is really irritating. Each government employee should do his job correctly. This has to be guaranteed so that something like this doesn't happen again."

Heads should roll

Officials in the defence ministry reportedly noticed the mistake but didn't notify their superiors when the wrong dates and figures were quoted by government members in public. The opposition is milking this mistake as much as it can. Kenji Yamaoka is an opposition MP in the defence committee:

"I was more than surprised about the figures and the dates which the defence ministry's enquiry revealed. The matter is so serious that it will take more than the resignation of one or several civil servants before it is resolved."

By "more", he means the resignation of the whole government and snap elections. The biggest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, would then have good chances of beating the ruling Liberal Democrat Party. Whether of not the anti-terror law is extended will be decisive for the future of domestic politics in Japan.