The last time Japan’s lower house used its constitutional powers to override upper house opposition was in 1951, when it awarded a gambling franchise for motorboat racing to a friend of the government. This time, there was also a maritime theme, though the boats in question were naval vessels and the friend was George W. Bush, the US president.

Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese prime minister, who has seen his popularity tumble since taking office in September, yesterday resorted to using his party’s two-thirds majority to resume a six-year mission, interrupted by the opposition-controlled upper house, to supply oil to allied ships operating in the Indian Ocean. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which used the issue to bring down the previous government of Shinzo Abe, has opposed the mission on the grounds it serves the interests of Washington rather than Tokyo.