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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has left for the APEC in Sydney and his task is to convince major CO2 emitting countries to join in his effort to cut emissions by half by 2050.
He faces an even tougher ordeal when he returns with the extraordinary diet session that kicks off next Monday.
Things aren't going well for Abe as he is up against a stronger opposition camp when the first full-fledged parliament session begins on Monday.
Since his ruling coalition lost its upper house majority in July, he has suffered one setback after another.
Within a week of reshuffling his cabinet last week, new Agriculture Minister Takehiko Endo was forced to step down for mishandling political funds.
Now, the ministry's second most important man has resigned to take responsibility for the chaos.
With more financial scandals emerging from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, the opposition is likely to grill Mr Abe during the diet proceedings.
In addition, there is the public's top concern over the gross mishandling of millions of pension accounts and allegations of large-scale embezzlement by pension workers.
In foreign affairs, the Abe government is also struggling to renew a naval refuelling mission that's supporting the US-led fight against terror in Afghanistan, before its November 1st deadline.
The leader of the Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, is opposed to the extension of the operation by the Marine Self Defence Forces in the Indian Ocean.
Even after U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer met Mr. Ozawa and told him that Japan's contribution was not only appreciated by the U.S. but by the multi-national forces operating in the area, he failed to get Mr Ozawa's agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also failed to reach an understanding with Mr Ozawa during her visit to Japan last week.
Jun Lio, Professor of Government of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said: “If the Japanese government fails to extend, it will harm U.S. relations to some extent. In that case, Japanese government and opposition parties try to make another policy to support the U.S. because both parties, the Japanese government and DPJ want to keep good relations with the U.S. So, there might be some kind of substitute policy on anti-terrorism law."
The LDP is said to be working on amending the current law on the mission to include a line on humanitarian aid, but it would not be easy to convince the opposition.
Their no-vote could just spell the beginning of many difficult parliamentary debates and deadlocked sessions to come over other key pieces of legislation.- CNA/vm
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