Japan's national legislation, the Diet, has opened a 66-day extraordinary session. The government's aim for the speedy ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact is expected to be the overarching issue.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling LDP party wants the TPP deal to be ratified before November the 8th, the day the US presidential election will be held. Both candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, are against the pact.

Abe wants Japan's ratification to spur the deal's passage in the US Congress, before the new US president takes office next year. Japan's opposition leaders have vowed to block the ratification.