The budget, the first one under the Shinzo Abe administration, has been sent to the upper house. The ruling coalition aim to have it approved at the House of Councillors by the end of the month, i.e. before the start of fiscal 2007.

At the 480-member lower house chamber, the budget was approved by 337 votes to 125, with 462 valid votes being cast. The budget is required by law to be enacted within 30 days after approval by the lower house even if the upper house fails to endorse it, meaning it would take effect on April 1 at the latest.

"I'm glad to see the budget approved because it directly affects the daily lives of the Japanese people," Abe was quoted as saying by Kyodo News after the parliament session ended at around 4:00am local time (1900 GMT, Friday).

On Friday night, the opposition camp filed motions at the lower house plenary session before the vote for the budget, to dismiss the Budget Committee Chairmen Kazuyoshi Kaneko and the head of another lower-house committee.

The opposition criticised the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party forced a vote and pushed the budget through the lower house Budget Committee on Friday evening. Both motions were voted down, however, by the ruling majority at the plenary session.

The total national budget for fiscal 2007 will rise 4.0 percent from previous fiscal year, featuring a record-high 21.1 trillion yen (179 billion US dollars) allocated for social security-related spending.