"I've issued instructions (to the defense ministry) to do everything to establish an alert, monitoring stance, " Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said on the way into the session on Monday.
An engineer by training, the 51-year-old got his start in politics by managing the 1974 Upper House campaign of the late Fusae Ichikawa, Japan's leading feminist politician who championed equality of the sexes, shunned political parties and aided the fight against corruption.