J Update

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba made a policy speech in both Houses of the Diet on November 29 th . He must have seen different view of audience in the House of Representatives. In the general election in late October, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered terrible defeat and the leading coalition by the LDP and Komeito lost a simple majority. Ishiba insisted on humbleness in handlings of policies in his second term as the prime minister to ask cooperation of the opposition parties.   It was the second time for Ishiba to give a policy speech to the Diet. In the first speech in early October, he apologized about the slush fund scandal which caused broad skepticisms on obscure management of political funds in the LDP and resignation of Ishiba’s predecessor, Fumio Kishida. However, public criticisms against the LDP became far stronger than what Ishiba had expected. The LDP lost significant number of seats in the Lower House’s general election afterward.   Ishiba quoted a spee...

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba considers to visit the Republic of Korea in January, as an exercise of “shuttle diplomacy” between both governments. The leaders will commemorate sixtieth anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and ROK and discuss further development of their bilateral relationship. Ishiba hopes to take a momentum for his administration to promote security assurance in East Asia region. The bilateral relationship between Japan and ROK has been on the track of improvement, getting rid of the worst situation in post-World War II era by the leaders of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Moon Jae-in. Ishiba’s predecessor, Fumio Kishida, agreed with President Yoon Suk Yeol on resuming the shuttle diplomacy in March, 2023. Kishida advised Ishiba to maintain the relationship with ROK through exchanging visits each other.   Although governmental efforts for settling the issue over forced labor of Korean people by the government of Japan i...

The Head of Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki,   requested   the Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, to increase nuclear power plant to secure necessary electricity for Japanese economy. Newly building of nuclear power plant is a policy that even the Liberal Democratic Party has been hesitating to promote. Overjoyed with victory in the general election of the House of Representatives in October, the small party with twenty-eight lawmakers in the Lower House keeps on pushing its policy to the LDP. “We wrote down that the government needs to promote building new nuclear power plants, the policy which the LDP did not include in their platform for the general election,” told Tamaki to the reporters after he met with Ishiba and handed a document of policy proposal to the prime minister. Ishiba insisted that safety and security would be the basis of the discussion over nuclear power plant.   The government of Japan is planning to revise current Basic Energy Plan, whi...

Seven parties in the Diet  had the first meeting  for revision of Political Funds Control Act, which Shigeru Ishiba administration needs to deal with to keep public trust on the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The key issue seems to be whether donation from private companies and organizations to the parties. While the opposition parties, except the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), demand complete abolition of the donation, the leading coalition defends the system as arguing it is necessary to promote politics. No prospect of reaching an agreement before the end of this year is seen so far.   The LDP proposed its own idea on political reform. It included abolition of the policy activities fund of each party, which does not require reporting on what purpose the fund was spent, disclosure of allowance from the Diet to its members, and establishment of third-party organization to oversee treatment of political funds.   However, the LDP did not sho...

After reelection of former governor Motohiko Saito of Hyogo Prefecture, doubts on Saito’s campaign keep on appearing. Another candidate in the gubernatorial election made offensive speech to Saito’s political enemy without seeking winning in the election. Saito had paid money to a firm of public relations for his campaign, which is doubted as a violation of law. Hyogo gubernatorial election left unexpected results on democracy in Japan. The election was held after Hyogo Prefectural Assembly passed a non-confidence resolution against Saito with suspicion of illegal investigation on a staff of government of Hyogo Prefecture, who revealed Saito’s harassment. The election resulted in Saito’s victory with certain margin against Kazumi Inamura, former Mayor of Amagasaki with support of twenty-two mayors in Hyogo Prefecture.   Saito’s victory was reported as integrated strategy of using social networking services (SNS), such as X or YouTube. A number of voters voted on the basis of inform...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China announced that it would resume waiver policy of short-term visa for Japanese on November 30 th . Short stay in China without visa may be available for business trip, with expectation of increase of business opportunities. Current communication between the leaders of Japan and China and economic slump in China seems to have contributed to this softer attitude toward Japan than in the time of sober relationship in the past.   It would be the first attempt since it ended visa waiver policy in March 2020, when COVID-19 grew to be an international pandemic. China had waivered visa for Japanese travelers for sightseeing or business trip from 2003 to 2020. Doubted as the home country of pandemic, China introduced an extremely strict policy on controlling COVID-19 infection, called Zero Corona Policy.   On July 2023, China reopened itself for short stay by foreigners from Singapore and Brunei. The deregulation was extended to the travelers from twe...

Shigeru Ishiba Cabinet approved an economic stimulus plan, which marked the first policy package since its establishment in early October. The plan accumulated 13.9 trillion yen for the general account in national budget, which will be submitted to extraordinary session of the Diet scheduled to be convoked later this month. The spendings of national government, including special account and financial investment and loan, will expand to 21.9 trillion yen. Total amount for all projects will be about 39 trillion yen with spendings of private sectors. Ishiba accelerates his measures for supporting households to raise public approval for his Cabinet. The stimulus plan consists of three pillars: growth of national and local economy in Japan, overcoming price inflation, and preserving security and safety of the nationals. 5.8 trillion yen out of 13.9 trillion yen in the general account will be appropriated to economic growth, 3.4 trillion yen will go to overcoming inflation, and 4.8 trillion ...

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office  admitted  that an investigation of local public prosecutors on a criminal defendant in Wakayama prefecture was inappropriate. The defendant was indicted after he had hurled an explosive device to then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when he had been in campaign trail in April, 2023. The lawyer of the defendant argued that a public prosecutor insulted the defendant in interviews, while the defendant exercised his right of silence. A twenty-five-year jobless man, Ryuji Kimura, was arrested after he threw an explosive device, which looked like a pipe bomb, to Kishida in his rally at fishery port in Wakayama city, and seized by the audience. Kishida was not injured by the explosion. Kimura was indicted with an attempt at murder in September 2023. The incident reminded the people of assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July, 2022, and skepticism on security guarding of police spread.   Kimura has been detained in Osaka Prison...

The Headquarters for Political Reform in the Liberal Democratic Party wrapped up its proposals for revision of Political Funds Control Act, which will be submitted to the extraordinary session of the Diet scheduled to be convoked on November 28 th . The proposals do not include abolition of donation from corporations and organizations to parties, which the opposition parties regard as the core factor of corruption in the LDP. The LDP also left a loophole in repealing the policy activities fund. It is unclear whether the opposition parties will approve it.   Private corporations and organizations such as labor union are prohibited to donate to politician. But the donation can be made for parties and their branches. Private business owners can financially support specific politician by donating to an organization which is headed by that politician, or purchasing ticket of fundraising party held by the party or party branch.   Donation from private corporations have been a main f...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) agreed on raising the threshold of “Wall of 1.03 Million Yen.” It is still unclear at which point new “wall” will be set. However, the DPP accepted LDP’s offer to make deal. The three parties exchanged a document of the agreement. The DPP took one step forward to the leading coalition. “Wall” means a limit of annual income at which a worker would not work anymore. When annual income of a worker exceeds 1.03 million yen, income tax will be imposed on him/her. The DPP argued that the threshold should be raised for the workers to earn more without paying income tax. The LDP and Komeito has been reluctant to raise the threshold, being afraid of shortage of tax revenue from the perspective of governmental authority of taxation, in other words Ministry of Finance.   However, the LDP and Komeito accepted consistent demand of the DPP. The leading coalition does not have majority power in the House of ...

In the summit meeting of Group 20 (G20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba urged the leaders to take responsibility for maintaining international order. Raising poverty, climate change, natural disaster and military conflict as international issues requiring urgent solution, he stressed necessity of sharing a common goal, instead of division and opposition. It sounded like protesting a leader of the super power who upholds a concept of putting the highest priority on its own interest.   The Leaders’ Declaration of G20  urged all states to refrain from use threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. “We affirm that all parties must comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and in this regard condemn all attacks against civilians and infrastructure,” says the declaration wi...

Given a possibility that incoming president of the United States may retreat from the frameworks of like-minded countries, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba focuses on maintenance of security cooperation with neighbor countries. Considering current developments on the side of authoritarianism, it is likely that the Republic of Korea is a reliable country to share common security goals. Ishiba accelerates normalization of bilateral relationship with ROK. Ishiba had  a meeting  with ROK President, Yoon Suk Yeol, in Lima, Peru, in the backdrop of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. Both leaders shared “serious concern” on North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities and further advance of its military cooperation with Russia including deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.   As a relatively pro-Japan President, Yoon has made efforts to improve bilateral relationship with Japan, taking measures to resolve the issue of forced labor of Koreans under administrati...

Former Governor of Hyogo Prefecture, Motohiko Saito, won a gubernatorial election of Hyogo voted on November 17. Although he lost his position after the local assembly of Hyogo Prefecture passed a non-confidence resolution in September, Saito ran for the election to fulfill the seat of the governor. It is reported that Saito’s campaign strategy of taking advantage of social networking services (SNS) contributed to his unexpected victory by generating unusual voters’ turnout.   Saito was accused of his abuse against his staffs while he had been in his works as a governor. The Hyogo prefectural government punished a staff who revealed Saito’s abuses and inappropriate behaviors, arguing that the accusation was not true in core facts. The staff found dead in July. All the parties required resignation of Saito. After Hyogo Prefectural Assembly passed non-confidence resolution, Saito chose a course to give his position up, rather than dissolving the assembly.   The election became a...

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba launched a ministers’ conference for reviewing treatment of the members of Japan Self-defense Force (JSDF). While the government of Japan has been reiterated necessity of enhancing defense capability with exacerbation of security environment around Japan, the JSDF faces shortage of human resource. The meeting is going to lay out how to improve the working situation of JSDF members. The JSDF personnel has not fulfilled its full strength for years. At the end of March 2024, about 223 thousand members were affiliated to the JSDF, shorter than necessary strength of 247 thousand. Applicants have been declining with drop of birthrate, marking the lowest record in sufficiency against recruitment plan at 51 percent in FY 2023.   The government attributes this reluctance against serving to low quality in their job. It has been said that the jobs in the JSDF are hard, dirty and dangerous with low payment. A high school graduate receives 157.1 thousand yen of sta...

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had   a meeting   with the President of China, Xi Jinping, for the first time in Lima, Peru, where he visited to participate in the leaders’ meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Both leaders reconfirmed comprehensive promotion of “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” which has been a basic concept to maintain bilateral relationship of both countries. Given rising tension over presence in the western Pacific region, both leaders look like making efforts to manage the situation of the region.   In a thirty-five-minute meeting, Ishiba exhibited his hope to improve bilateral relations of both nations. “We can share the direction to mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests, and constructive and stable Japan-China relations,” told Ishiba to Xi. The statement was made along with the line drawn in his meeting with Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, in Vientiane, Laos, in Oct...

After a surge in the last general election of the House of Representatives, some opposition parties show behavior as same as the leading parties usually take. Some inner groups of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), which resembles the factions of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),   compete each other   in inviting new lawmakers to their groups. The Democratic Party for the People (DPP) secretly changed their policy, taking one step closer to the LDP.   There are about ten groups in the CDPJ, each of which is led by heavyweights of the party. They take a form of policy study groups. CDPJ lawmakers can be affiliated to multiple groups, making difference from the LDP’s faction system. However, some policy groups in the CDPJ showed integrated action in voting for the candidates in the leader’s election held in September.   The CDPJ gained 39 freshmen/women in the general election in October. It is the time for each group to increase its members. The b...

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (RNA) officially issued a document of examination on November 13 th , which concluded that reactor #2 of Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant owned by Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) failed in meeting regulation requirements for resuming its operation. It is the first time for a reactor to be denied resumption, since new regulation, established with lessons from the severe accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, had been applied to all the nuclear power plants in Japan in 2013.   New regulation prohibits operating a nuclear power reactor on the top of an active fault underground, which may cause a great earthquake. There is a possibly active fault, named “K Fault,” located three hundred meters north of reactor #2 in the underground. RNA reached a conclusion that it was possible for K Fault to be extended to the place just below the reactor.   Although JAPC disputed against the argument about the activeness of the fault and its reach to the ...