J Update

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)   approved   a draft of its proposal to the government for deregulation on exporting defense equipment on February 20 th .  The ruling party approved exporting not only defense equipment but “weapons” to foreign countries, including one directly involved in a war. Although Japan has been taking distance from international military conflict with requirement of its constitution that prohibit war, Sanae Takaichi administration is unleashing the country from pacifist principle.   Japan upheld  three principles on exporting “weapons”  in 1967, which prohibited export of weapons to a country in communist bloc, to one banned by resolution of the United Nations, and to one in international conflict. Former prime minister Shinzo Abe renewed the principles into  three principles for transfer of “defense equipment ” in 2014, which laid out conditions on export of defense equipment. They were exporting not to a country involved i...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave   a policy speech   to the Diet on February 20 th . Although this policy speech has been made every January at the beginning of ordinary session, it delayed this year due to Takaichi’s dissolution of the Lower House and general election. The policy speech included no new policy, despite her sweeping victory in the election, indicating that she had no specific agenda to implement backed by overwhelming public approval.   As she did in  the policy speech last October , Takaichi stressed her economic slogan called “responsible and proactive public finances.” It is still unclear what this mantra means.   Takaichi insisted that she would promote domestic investment which had been falling short of. She insisted that she would promote “strategic investment,” which literal translation would be “crisis-management investment,” including economic security, food security, energy security, health-medical security or cyber security. Those po...

Government of Japan and the United States   announced  their projects of investment which Japan promised last summer when they reached a deal on tariff rate. They included manufacturing artificial diamonds in Georgia, building a port for exporting crude oil in Texas and gas power generation in Ohio. The volume of investment for those projects amounts to $36 billion. The leaders of both governments welcomed the deal as a symbol of economic cooperation between two countries.   Last July, both governments reached a deal on tariffs imposed by Donald Trump administration on products from Japan. The U.S. accepted reduction of rate of tariffs on Japanese products from 25 percent to 15. Tariff on Japanese cars were halved to 12.5 percent. In return, Japan offered $550 billion of investment to the U.S. by the end of Trump’s term as the president.   Artificial diamond is necessary for production of semiconductors. Although Japan and the U.S. has been dependent on Chinese artif...

The 221 st   session of the Diet was convoked on February 18 th . This is a special session, set up after general election of the House of Representatives on February 8 th . After Sanae Takaichi Cabinet resigned en masse at the beginning of the session, both chambers of the Diet reelected Takaichi. The second Takaichi Cabinet embarked on. Although Takaichi reappointed all the ministers in her cabinet, members of the Lower House have been drastically replaced by the snap election arranged by Takaichi. The 220 th  ordinary session was convoked on January 23 rd . Takaichi, then, dissolved the Lower House on the first day, asking “choose me or someone else” for prime minister on the day. The Upper House simultaneously finished the session. The 220 th  session lasted just one day. Article 54 of  the Constitution of Japan  demands the Lower House to have a general election within 30 days from the dissolution and to have a special session within 40 days from the electi...

A special session of the Diet will be convoked on February 18 th . Sweeping victory of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Lower House election in earlier this month will drastically change the structure of the Diet, giving two-thirds majority to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The opposition parties are responsible for checking Takaichi administration from excessive use of power to implement her agenda.   After the election in October 2024, in which the LDP lost significant number of seats in the House, some important committee seats were occupied by opposition parties. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) chaired 10 out of 27 committees, including the Committee on Budget and Commission on the Constitution. Handling of committees by opposition chairperson irritated Takaichi, partly causing her decision to have a snap election to change the situation in the Diet.   Through discussion by their representatives, the parties agreed on which party would lead eac...

Japan Agency for Maritime Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)   announced  that it had succeeded in extracting mud which possibly included rare earths from the seabed around Minamitorishima Island. The agency is going to examine the mud. The government of Japan hopes to pave the way to supply rare earths that are indispensable for advanced technologies without depending on import from foreign countries including China.   The government started a project called  Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)  in 2014, topped by the prime minister. It gives prime minister advices on comprehensive policy-making on science and technology. The project deals with various scientific projects, including power generation through combustion of ammonia to reduce emission of greenhouse gasses or autonomous driving of cars.   Research on rare earths around Minamitorishima started as a part of SIP to develop technology for maritime research. A research group of Universi...

In the first poll by news organizations after the Lower House election, in which Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi achieved a sweeping victory, Takaichi Cabinet maintained high popularity which had been shown in the election. Her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also gained certain approval from the public, while small opposition parties are fragmented with low popularity. It is focused how Takaichi will reflect this advantage to her handlings of her agenda. In the  poll  of  Asahi Shimbun , approval for Takaichi Cabinet was 63 percent against 24 percent of disapproval. While approval decreased by 4 percentage points from January, just before beginning of campaign for the Lower House election, disapproval slightly increased by 1 percentage point.   Other polls showed mostly the same trend. Approval for Takaichi Cabinet was 65 percent with 7 points of increase in the  poll  of NHK. Disapproval reduced by 6 points to 20 percent.  Nikkei Shimbun  released ...

An advisory board for Miniser of Health, Labour and Welfare, Central Social Insurance Medical Council, submitted   a report  to the minister that recommended raising reward for medical services, considering price inflation and trend of wage hike in private sectors. The recommendation reflected concern on medical system in Japan, which is suffering from deficit of each medical institution and shortage of manpower. It will impose greater payment on patients. Every medical institute receives medical service fee from public organizations of medical insurance and directly from patients who owe 10 to 30 percent of the fee. Sanae Takaichi administration  decided  last December to raise the rewards from medical insurance by 3.09 percent, which was the highest rate in these three decades. Considering the positive attitude of the government, the council, which submits its report every two years, recommended hike of the rewards.   Medical fee  for the second and furth...

To reconstruct the party suffered from significant defeat in the Lower House election, the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA)  had an election   to elect its new leader on February 13 th . Former secretary general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), Jun-ya Ogawa, won against Takeshi Shina, former Parliamentary Vice-minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. Ogawa is going to deal with an important issue for the ailing party, which is to integrate former members of the CDPJ and Komeito.   Immediately after the Lower House election on February 8 th , in which it reduced its seats from 167 to 49, co-leaders of CRA, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuya Saito, announced their resignation. The CRA has a rule that new leader will be elected by voting in a Joint Plenary Meeting of lawmakers in both chambers of Diet, when the leader’s seat becomes empty. As members of Upper House with the CDPJ and Komeito have not joined the CRA, the leader’s election was voted by 49 ...

One of the main reasons for historical victory of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Lower House election is her campaign strategy taking advantage of social media to disseminate her positive impression to the voters. Followers for Takaichi increased more than any other party leaders during the campaign. It was possible that some internet users seem to have earned some money through the video.   Yomiuri Shimbun   reported  that Takaichi increased her followers in X by 35 thousand during the campaign period, overwhelming other party leaders. It was February 1 st  when she most added her followers by 10,300. It was the day when she cancelled TV program of NHK, in which party leaders discussed campaign policies, arguing that she injured her arm when she shook hands with supporters in a local campaign rally. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sent a deputy policy chief, Norihisa Tamura, to the program.   There rose a criticism that Takaichi escaped the discussion,...

In the slush fund scandal of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) emerged in 2023, 85 lawmakers were involved, receiving kickback from their factions for their sales of fundraising party ticket. 43 members of the House of Representatives out of them ran for the Lower House election on February 8 th , including who had lost their seats in the election in 2024. Surprisingly enough, 41 out of those 43   won  along with historical victory of the LDP led by popular Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.   Since newspaper of Japan Communist Party, Shimbun Akahata, firstly reported the scandal in November 2023, the LDP  found  85 lawmakers had been involved in. The party charged penalty on 39 lawmakers in April 2024, ranging from recommendation of leave the party for two people to simply reprimand on seven. 45 were not penalized. Most of them were from the faction led by former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Among 46 candidates who had involved in the scandal, 28 lost their seats in...

As Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi achieved a historical victory in February 8 election of House of Representatives, new leading opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), suffered from a significant setback, leaving a concern on elimination of alternative choices to a political giant, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). While its leaders   announced their resignation, the CRA has no hopeful perspective to raise a new chief who can build a viable bloc of the centrists. The CRA was established on January 16 th , three days before Takaichi’s announcement to dissolve the Lower House. The party consisted of members of the Lower House of the Diet, who were affiliated with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and Komeito. 165 lawmakers, 144 from CDPJ and 21 from Komeito,  joined  the new party leaving their original parties. It fielded 236 candidates to districts of single-seat and proportional.   The  result  was disastrous. It reduced its se...

Following a landslide victory in the Lower House election, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had   a press conference   on February 9 th . She stressed her intention to implement policies, which she had already announced, including consideration of consumption tax cut or constitutional amendment. To reinforce her administration, Takaichi asked Japan Innovation Party (JIP) to join her cabinet.   To discuss consumption tax cut, Takaichi is going to establish a “national conference,” which would consist of lawmakers beyond party line. She hopes to discuss her idea that consumption tax rate will be zero on foods for two years without issuing governmental bonds for it. JIP has the same policy. The conference will be participated by parties which can accept introduction of refundable tax credit. Takaichi aims at wrapping up an interim report by early summer.   On enhancement of controlling intelligence in the government, Takaichi is going to establish National Intelligence Bur...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, as the president of Liberal Democratic Party,   achieved   a landslide victory in general election of the House of Representatives voted on February 8 th . The LDP obtained a record high of two-thirds majority with 316 seats out of 465 (68 percent) in the House, based on extraordinarily high popularity of Takaichi. With 36 seats of Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the leading coalition occupies 352 seats (75 percent). The LDP received so many votes beyond the number of candidates on its slate in proportional district that it gave away 14 seats to other parties.   An opposition coalition instantly established for the election, Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), sank from 167 to 49, losing support for their cause of building centrist power. Populist parties such as Democratic Party for the People (DPP), Sanseito and new party “Team Mirai” could not make as a great progress as expected, due to a stunning advance of the LDP. Leftist parties such as Ja...

Voters in Japan voted for the Lower House election on February 8 th . The result will be fixed early morning of February 9 th . As election campaign continued, one issue was left behind in speeches of party leaders. That was selective separate surname. While the opposition parties demand to introduce selective separate surname of married couples, conservative leading parties argue that using nickname can fulfill the demands of separate surname. Nicknames, anyway, are already common in Japan. Article 750 of the Civil Code requires a married couple to use a common surname which is husband’s former family name or wife’s one. Legislative Council of Ministry of Justice  recommended  introduction of selective separate surname in 1996, concerning inconvenience in international business or insufficient assurance of individual human rights. Although the Diet started discussion over selective separate surname under minority government of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2025, the m...

While focusing on supporting households from price inflation, parties raise amendment of the Constitution of Japan in their platforms for the Lower House election. As polls of news organizations indicate sweeping victory of ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which demands a modern constitution, it became an important point of election whether powers for constitutional amendment occupy overwhelming number of seats. The LDP included constitutional amendment as one of five pillars in its  party platform  for this election. The party proposed four points in 2017 under the leadership of Shinzo Abe. They are 1) writing down “self-defense force (SDF)” in the constitution with change of Article 9, 2) emergency clause for major natural disaster to maintain the legislative branch, 3) guaranteeing at least one representative from every prefecture in the Upper House, and 4) enhancement of education. They are written in LDP platform for this Lower House election.   Abe argued that...

The only existing treaty over controlling nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia, or New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START),   was expired   on February 5 th . It is concerned that arms race over nuclear weapons will not only be accelerated between two major nuclear powers, but be complicated with participation of China which is ambitious to obtain hegemony in Asian region. Sufferers of atomic bombs in Japan have expressed their anxiety on unleashed nuclear powers.   Following Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) I in 1972 and II in 1979, START was signed by leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1991 and took effect in 1994. The treaty capped two countries’ possession of nuclear warheads at 6,000 each. The treaty was renewed in 2011 after it had been expired in 2009, mandating both governments to reduce their nuclear warheads through 2026.   Referring to Russia’s nuclear power since its aggression to Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vlad...

One of the focal points in the campaign of Lower House election on February 8 th  is anti-spy law. Although Japanese government run by Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) failed in legislating an anti-spy act decades ago, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, LDP and other conservative parties advocate enhancing anti-spy regulations after the election. It is doubted that Japan cannot deal with leakage of sensitive information without new legislation which may violated privacy of the people.   In 1985, LDP administration led by prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone submitted a bill of national secrecy act to the Diet. But the bill failed to pass the Diet, because it comprehensively covered ordinary people and included death penalty as the heaviest penalty. The LDP cabinets had made attempts to legislate regulations enhancing national secrecy. Former prime ministers Shinzo Abe legislated Specially Designated Secrecy Act in 2014 and Fumio  Kishida  established Economic Security Promotio...