J Update

The President of Liberal Democratic Party Shigeru Ishiba decided to call a snap election of the House of Representatives, which will be voted on October 27. While he was considering the schedule to be after detailed discussion over his policies in the Diet, he leaned on early dissolution of the House, accepting offers of LDP leaders. Ishiba mostly finished selection of members of his Cabinet and LDP board, from which his political enemies were excluded. Ishiba is going to be elected 102th Prime Minister of Japan in the first day of an extraordinary session of the Diet convoked on October 1. He will establish his Cabinet with appointment of ministers on the same day, and make his policy speech on October 4. He will take questions on his policy from the parties in Plenary Sessions of both Houses on October 7 and 8, and call dissolution of the House of Representatives on October 9.   The general election of the House of Representatives will be proclaimed on October 15 and voted on Oct...

The President of Liberal Democratic Party, Shigeru Ishiba, constructed basic framework of his administration on the day after he had been elected president. To the post of leading the party, Secretary General, he decided to appoint Hiroshi Moriyama, who has been the Chairman of General Council. He picked Itsunori Onodera for the Chairman of Policy Research Council, and Shinjiro Koizumi for the Chairman of Election Strategy Committee. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi will stay at the position. The influence of former prime minister Shinzo Abe will be removed from Ishiba administration. Moriyama is known as a veteran lawmaker in the LDP, who has a broad connection with people in and out of the party, which was established in his days of consultation and negotiation as the chief of Diet Affairs. After the slush fund scandal, Moriyama faction became the first faction which was officially dissolved in April. Ishiba expects an experienced lawmaker to handle coming elections of both ...

Shizuoka District Court acquit Iwao Hakamada, the defendant who had been in a death row, in a retrial on September 26, finding he was innocent in a case of murder in Shimizu City in 1966. The court decided that the evidence submitted to the court had been fabricated by investigation authority, causing extremely long detention of Hakamada based on false accusation. Hakamada’s case highlighted serious violation of human rights and problem of difficulty of filing a retrial.   Hakamada was arrested with suspicion of murder, robbery and arson, as committing murder of four families of senior manager of a miso paste factory, whom he was working for, in 1966. Hakamada admitted his commitment to the police and Shizuoka District Court sentenced death penalty to Hakamada in 1968 and it was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1980.   Later, Hakamada filed retrial twice from 1981, arguing false accusation by police. When Shizuoka District Court decided retrial in 2014, Hakamada was released ...

The Liberal Democratic Party elected former Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba for its 28th President on September 27. Although Ishiba was at the second position behind Minister of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi in the first round, he overtook her in the run-off election. Most LDP lawmakers expect Ishiba to remove the image of corruption labeled on the party, caused by the slush fund scandal, and lead the party to a victory in coming general election of the House of Representatives. The presidential election was competed by nine candidates, following announcement of standing down by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The race was initially led by former Minister of Environment Shinjiro Koizumi, but he slowed down as he revealed his immaturity in policies such as deregulation of firing workers or unilateral conviction of benefit of early snap election, if he would be elected president.   The candidate who occupied top position was Takaichi who obtained 181 votes, 72 from lawmakers and 10...

While enthusiasm of presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party is reaching a peak, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made his last foreign trip to the United States. In the quadrilateral meeting with the leaders of U.S., Australia and India, or Quad, Kishida   insisted on   importance of maintaining that framework, as he reaches the end of his term as the prime minister. However, whether the cooperative relationship among four democracies in Asia-Pacific region will be promoted depends on the successor of Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden. The Quad leaders meeting followed last meeting in Hiroshima last year, taking opportunity of G7 Summit meeting in Kishida’s home town. In the meeting in Wilmington, Delaware, the hometown of Biden, Kishida emphasized importance of strong commitment to the common vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” to the international Community.   The discussion was focused on North Korea’s intimidation of missile launch, and China’s advan...

Ministry of Defense   announced   that a Russian reconnaissance aircraft breached airspace of northern Japan for three times on September 23. Fighter jets of Japan Air Self-defense Force used flares to warn the aircraft, for the first time since Japan started measures against airspace breach in 1958. The ministry supposes that the breach was intentional activity by Russia, possibly related to a joint exercise between Russia and China which is ongoing around Japan. According to the ministry, the Russian military aircraft flew to the airspace at the north of Rebun Island, which is located offshore of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, and invaded into Japan’s airspace for three times at 1:03, 3:31 and 3:42 p.m. F-15 and F-35 fighter jets of JASDF scrambled. They urged the Russian aircraft not to approach Japan’s airspace through radio and sent a sign to go away by flapping their wings. After that, they warned the Russian aircraft with flare at the third breach.   Prim...

The Head of Constitutional Democratic Party, Yoshihiko Noda, picked Jun-ya Ogawa for the Secretary General, Kazuhiko Shigetoku for the Chairman of Policy Research Council and Hirofumi Ryu for the Chairman of Diet Affairs Committee. Hiroshi Ogushi stays as the Chairman of Election Strategy Committee. Noda appointed Ogushi, Akira Nagatsuma and Kiyomi Tsujimoto for Deputy Head of the party. By appointing younger members than him to the board members, Noda hopes to appeal refreshment of the party to the voters in coming general election of the House of Representatives.   Ogawa, Shigetoku and Ryu supported Noda in the leader’s election of the CDP. While Noda had a choice to appoint other candidates to the board to demonstrate unification of the party, he rather chose to exclude his contenders from his team. The leadership with like-minded lawmakers may make policy promotion easier, but it can leave some instability in the party for internal struggle over basic policies.   Ogawa, ag...

The largest opposition party, Constitutional Democratic Party, elected former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda for the head in its national convention on September 23. Noda insisted that he would uphold taking back the administration from the Liberal Democratic Party as the biggest target of his party leadership. Noda is going to face a competition against the leading coalition in the election of House of Representatives, which is expected to be held soon after the LDP decides new president later this week. Among the four candidates, Noda achieved the biggest number of votes both from CDP lawmakers and rank-and-file members of the party. Noda achieved 267 points, leaving Edano with 206 points, Izumi with 143 points and Yoshida with 122 points behind. His score of 128 points from lawmakers and registered candidates for next Diet election and 139 points from CDP local assembly members and rank-and-file members were not overtaken by any of other candidates.   In the campaign, Noda strict...

Prime Mnister Fumio Kishida   announced   that Japan and China reached an agreement which confirmed resumption of China’s import of Japan’s sea products. In advance, Kishida received an approval from International Atomic Energy Agency for enhancing monitoring of the processed water discharged from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Although it has firmly been protesting the discharge of the water, China looks like focusing on economic interest of importing Japanese sea products. Tokyo Electric Power Company started discharging diluted processed water, which still included tritium, into the Pacific Ocean last August. Although Japanese government tried to persuade neighbor countries that the water would be safe enough with strict monitoring by IAEA, China has been skeptical about the safety of the water, calling it “contaminated water,” and blocked Japanese seafood.   Japan prompted China to lift the ban, stressing the products would be safe, disclosing result of monito...

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced that it would extract the devices for taking out nuclear debris from containment vessel of the reactor 2 in crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It would make research on why the camera, attached on the device, has not been working. It is likely that the project will be intermitted for a certain long period of time. In the severe accident in 2011, nuclear fuel rods in reactors of the Fukushima plant melted down and about 880 metric tons of nuclear radioactive debris are remaining in the bottom of reactors 1 to 3. While TEPCO had a plan to start extracting those debris in 2021, it was delayed twice with malfunction of devices or delay of development for new device 　 called “robot arm.” It decided to take debris out of containment vessel by using a device resembling fishing rod.   TEPCO tried to start the project in August, which was postponed with failure of setting the device for picking up a small part of debris. TEPCO anno...

A ten-year-old boy on his way to school with a parent was   stubbed to death   by a man in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, on September 18. The man is under investigation of Chinese police. Not only expatriates in China but the people in Japan are shocked by the violence targeted on the Japanese in China. It makes a diplomatic case, as Japanese government sent China a serious concern. According to the reports in Japan, the boy was assaulted by the man at two hundred meters away from his Japanese school. Although the Chinese government explained that the boy was immediately brought to a hospital and had medical treatment, the boy was dead next day. A forty-four-year-old man was arrested as a suspect and is under investigation of Chinese Police.   September 18 marked ninety-third anniversary from Mukden (Liutiaohu) Incident, a false flag blast on railway which led to Japan’s occupation of Manchuria. This is the day, called “National Infamy Day,” for the Chinese to prot...

Trying to separate of money from politics, the Liberal Democratic Party appeals not expensive presidential election, which will be voted on September 27. However, one of the candidates was found that she had distributed flyers to local voters for presentation of her policies, inviting argument that it would violate the regulation. It is suspected that the party is serious for renewing its culture on political funds. Before the presidential election was officially announced on September 12, LDP election committee set a new rule for election campaign. It contained eight regulations for each candidate, which included mailing flyers describing policies, automatic telephone call to the voters, distribution of books, paid advertisement on webpages and supporting specific candidate by prefectural branch of the LDP.   Minister of Economic Security, Sanae Takaichi,  distributed flyers  called “national politics report,” which described her political activities and policies she uph...

Asahi Shimbun   published a photo  which indicated a meeting between former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the head of Family Federation for the World Peace and Unification (FFWPU: former Unification Church) in 2013. FFWPU is known as excessive request of donation to its followers, which might cause breakup of families. The assassin of Abe indicated vengeance against FFWPU as his motivation of shooting. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated his argument in the Diet that the he would not be able to reconfirm relationship between them, because Abe had died.   According  Asahi’s  report, the photo was taken in the president’s guest room in the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo in July 2013, three days before election of the House of Councillors. On the photo, Abe and the head of FFWPU, Eiji Tokuno, stand side by side, surrounded by Abe’s allies, his brother Nobuo Kishi and colleague Koichi Hagiuda, and leaders of organizations related to FFWPU,...

In a few days after the campaign officially started, the presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party began to show changes in the trend of supports. According to the polls, former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba took over former Minister of Environment Shinjiro Koizumi. Minister of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi is catching up Ishiba in a poll. It seems to be a close race by those three candidates. Asahi Shimbun  released the  result of poll  conducted September 14 and 15, in which Ishiba occupied 26 percent of support as new LDP president, followed by Koizumi with 21 percent and Takaichi with 11%. Among the recipients who support LDP, Ishiba secured 32 percent of support, leaving Koizumi behind with 8 percent margin and Takaichi with 15 percent margin. In the last poll in late August, Koizumi had 28 percent of support among LDP supporters, while Ishiba followed Koizumi with 23 percent.   Koizumi looks slowing down as policy discussion by nine candid...

Nine presidential candidates of the Liberal Democratic Party attended  joint press conference  taken place at Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on September 14. Held in every presidential election, the conference can be paralleled with presidential debate in the United States. More Questions went to former Minister of Environment Shinjiro Koizumi and former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, making the race a competition between young generation and experienced lawmakers. One of the most controversial discussions was about when new prime minister would have a snap election. Koizumi unequivocally told that he would dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election as soon as he would be elected Prime Minister. He may have thought that early election will work better for new prime minister than late election after the enthusiasm for new administration disappears.   Ishiba did not discuss that argument with political maneuvering, but with basic principle. “It is ...

The victims of national policy for forced sterilization   signed   on an agreement with the government of Japan, in which the government expressed sincere regret and heartfelt apology. The Supreme Court found in July that the sterilization policy had been the largest violation of human rights in post-war Japan. Lawmakers in the Diet beyond party line presented a draft of legislature of relieving measures for the victims, which is expected to be submitted to the extraordinary Diet session in this fall.   Under notorious Eugene Protection Law, the government promoted sterilization surgery in medical institutes to prevent births of “no-good descendants.” Victims amounted twenty-five thousand. The Supreme Court decided in July that the law was unconstitutional, violating Article 13 for human dignity and Article 14 for equality under laws, and the government would not be able to escape from its responsibility.   Fumio Kishida administration decided to compensate for the w...

The Chief Representative of Komeito, coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, Natsuo Yamaguchi, announced his standing down as the party leader, not running in the leader’s election this month. Having kept his position for fifteen years, Yamaguchi expressed his notion that it is the time for Komeito to raise a younger leader. Incumbent Secretary Genaral, Keiichi Ishii, is supposed to succeed Yamaguchi’s seat. Yamaguchi took the seat in 2009, when the leading coalition was defeated by Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito’s chief representative could not secure his seat in the election of House of Representatives. As a member of the House of Councillors, Yamaguchi has been known as a leader representing party’s basic concept for peace and improvement of people’s life, rather than political management over negotiation with the LDP which was mainly exercised in the House of Representatives.   In the discussion over new security legislation, which conditionally approved exerc...

The Liberal Democratic Party officially announced its presidential election on September 12. Nine lawmakers, marking the biggest number in the history under current election system, have signed up as the candidates with nomination of twenty LDP lawmakers. They started election campaign, appealing their policies for party reform, economic growth, improvement of people’s life or international security. The winner is going to be decided on September 27. The candidates are Minister of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi, former Minister of Economic Security Takayuki Kobayashi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Minister of Environment Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, Minister of Digital Affairs Taro Kono, former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba and LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi.   After registration as the candidates, they participated in a meeting for addressing their views as possibl...