J Update

A major earthquake   hit   northern Japan in late night on December 8 th . Fifty or more people were injured and minor tsunami arrived on the Pacific coast of Hokkaido and northern Honshu islands. People evacuated from their damaged house or possible major tsunami. The government of Japan   issued  a “subsequent quake advisory” for the first time since it established this category of warning in 2022. People in the designated area need to be careful for next earthquake at least for a week.   The earthquake occurred at under the sea eastern offshore Aomori prefecture at 11:15 p.m. The depth of epicenter was 50 kilometers. Estimated magnitude was 7.5 and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) detected 6+ degree of quake in Aomori city and weaker quake in prefectures in Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi or else. Tsunamis with a meter high or smaller arrived slong the Pacific coast of those area. JMA issued tsunami warning to those area and cancelled it seven hours later. ...

In their decisions over equality of value of one vote in the election of the Upper House in July, the courts are  divided between the opinions that the election was constitutional and unconstitutional. As sentences of unconstitutionality occupies the greater share of the courts, it is recognized that the parties in the House need to be serious for improving the election system by next election in 2028.   Two groups of lawyers filed 16 lawsuits to 14 high courts or their branches, arguing that 2025 July election of the Upper House had been unconstitutional, because the gap between urban and rural districts was too wide to implement requirement of the Constitution of Japan that guarantees every voters equality under the law. The high court is designated as the first court to decide this issue.   The greatest value of one vote was given to the voters in Fukui district in the election. One seat was allocated to 619 thousand voters in the district. On the other hand, 1.9 milli...

Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi announced on December 7   that Chinese fighter jets aimed their radar at an aircraft of Japan Self-defense Force. Japan made a strong protest to China, as China disputed against it. While China’s motivation is not clear so far, it is recognized in Japan that this military activity of China may reflect China’s frustration with unusual comment of Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan contingency at the Diet in early November. In an unusual midnight  press conference  at Ministry of Defense, on 2 a.m. of Sunday morning, Koizumi reported that JFDF F-15 fighter jet was exposed to radar shot by J-15 Chinese fighter jets twice in the afternoon of December 6. The aircrafts were flying over international waters southeast of the Okinawa Main Island. Chinese fighter jets were installed on an aircraft carrier, Liaoning, which was in an exercise at the area.   A fighter jet installs two kinds of radar in itself: fire-control radar an...

Ministry of Defense   started   landfill at east district offshore the Camp Schwab of United States Force in Henoko, Okinawa, on November 28 th . Although Governor of Okinawa firmly opposes construction of U.S. Force’s base in Henoko, which will be an alternative facility to Futenma Air Base, the government of Japan and the U.S. keep on building new base as the only choice for removing danger of Futenma Base located in urban area. The governor of Okinawa has an authority to approve building a military base in the prefecture. The landfill  was approved by former governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, in 2013. After Nakaima’s successor, Takeshi Onaga, withdrew the approval in 2015, the government of Japan sued Okinawan government, demanding confirmation that Onaga’s decision was invalid. The Supreme Court supported the argument of national government in 2016.   When national government realized that the seabed for landfilling was as soft as mayonnaise, it submitted revised plan f...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP)   submitted   a bill for reducing seats in the House of Representatives to the Diet on December 5 th . The bill includes certain number of reductions in single-seat districts and proportional district with a clause of “automatic reduction” within a year. The opposition parties oppose the bill, criticizing it as very coercive. It is not sure that the bill will pass the Diet by the end of current session ending on December 17 th .   JIP has insisted on 10 percent reduction in the House that has 465 seats in total. While the party proposed that the reduction should be made only in proportional district with 176 seats, the idea faced firm opposition from opposition parties. Then, the LDP and JIP agreed on reducing 25 seats in single-seat districts out of 289 seats, and 20 seats in proportional district. Those reductions were included in the bill.   The most controversial part of the bill is a provision t...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi   established  the office in charge of revising special measures on taxation and subsidies in Cabinet Secretariat. Takaichi expects that the office will detect inefficiency of the national government, inspired by Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) of the United States. However, it is skeptical that the organization, which members are basically bureaucrats, can steadily promote reform of current systems in the executive branch.   There are some loopholes in taxation system in Japan for political purposes. To support the people obtaining their own house, the national government applies income tax reduction for certain years to support payment for housing loans. To help companies with a plan of technological research and development or efforts for environmental efficiency, the government also reduces tax on those companies. Such benefits are called “special measures on taxation.” This system sometimes has troubles in transparency. ...

Sanae Takaichi administration   starts  discussion for submitting a bill to the Diet to officialize using maiden name as nickname in Japanese society, including residents’ registration. Use of maiden name has been one of the Takaichi’s conservative agenda, as an alternative to introduction of selective separate surnames. Forming a coalition with conservative Japan Innovation Party may enable Takaichi to promote the policy. Current laws in Japan mandates a married couple to choose one of their surnames as their official name for family registration. Most couples use husband’s surnames as their official name. However, as gender equality became prevalent in Japanese society, it became frequent for a business person who has different business surname from official one. Some troubles were found in international businesses, stemming from difference between business name and official name written on passport.   With request from business community, lawmakers have been discussing...

In the 12 th   trial on assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Nara District Court, the defendant Tetsuya Yamagami   revealed   the details of shooting Abe at election campaign rally in Nara city on July 8 th , 2022. Yamagami told that the reason why he targeted Abe was his vengeance on Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), or former Unification Church. It was because he thought Abe should be the main character in the relationship between the FFWPU and politics.   According to his testimony at the court, Yamagami made a gunshot on the building of FFWPU’s branch in Nara the day before he killed Abe. It was to notice the people realize that shooting of Abe would be related to the religious organization. Although he went to Okayama to shoot Abe in his campaign rally the same day, he could not achieve it due to heavy guard around Abe. On his way back home, he realized that Abe would have another rally in Nara next day. Yamagami recogniz...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP)   agreed   on submitting a bill to the Diet to reducing seats of the House of Representatives within a year on December 1 st . The bill would determine that the House reduces its seat by 10 percent and it would cut 25 seats in single-seat districts and 20 seats in proportional district, even if all the parties fail in concluding on the reduction within a year. The opposition parties are not supportive for the plan so far.   In the process of forming coalition, JIP raised “backup capital initiative” and social security reform as the conditions absolutely needed on October 16 th . Then, JIP abruptly added seat reduction in the Diet as the third “absolute condition” on October 17 th . The party had been demanding abolition of donation from companies and organizations to the LDP, it changed its focus in political reform from abolition of the donations to Diet seat reduction. The LDP has fundamentally been neg...

Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communications released   a report   on the balance of political funds in 2024 on November 28 th . It indicated that income from fundraising parties were significantly decreased, affected by kickback scandal in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in which lawmakers received sales of party ticket from factions and did not report it. However, the report revealed that the LDP had heavily been relied on donations from business sector.   The total amount of income of political parties or political organizations headed by politicians in 2024 was 4.6 billion yen, declined by 46.7 percent from the previous year. At the end of 2023, the kickback fund scandal was revealed and the parties and politicians became restraint from holding their fundraising parties.   The fundraising parties with 10 million yen of each income or more held by political organizations headed by lawmakers were reduced from 279 to 170 in 2024. Total amount of the income w...

Sanae Takaichi Cabinet   approved   2025 supplemental budget on November 28 th , which spendings in general account of national budget amounted to 18.3 trillion yen. The defense budget is expected to reach its target of 2 percent of GDP as a sum with main budget activated in the spring 2025. The supplemental budget still relies on 11.6 trillion yen of issuance of new governmental bonds, which covers six-tenths of the spendings. The supplemental budget bill is expected to submit to the Diet and will pass it by the end of the session on December 17 th . The leading coalition by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) recently achieved a simple majority in the House of Representatives, as the LDP included three independent lawmakers within its parliamentary group. Even though the coalition still does not have a majority in the Upper House, the budget will pass the Diet with constitutional superiority of the Lower House.   Among the spendings, 1.1 ...

The Governor of Hokkaido, Naomichi Suzuki,   announced   on November 28 th  that he would approve resumption of reactor #3 in Tomari Nuclera Power Plant in western part of Hokkaido Island. “I think taking advantage of nuclear power plant is one of the realistic choices we can take for the time being,” said Suzuki to Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly. The owner of the plant, Hokkaido Electric Power Company, expects to restart the operation of reactor #3 early in FY 2027. Reactor #1 and #2 in Tomari plant stopped its operation few months after a severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. The reactor #3, the youngest reactor in Japan, stopped in May 2012, making it the last reactor that survived for the longest time since Fukushima accident. The reactor #3 passed the examination of Nuclear Regulation Authority for resumption in July 2025, based on new regulatory standard set after Fukushima accident.   Resumption of a nuclear reactor requires not only p...

Three independent members of the House of Representative   announced   that they would join the parliamentary group of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on November 28 th . With the participation of those three, the leading coalition of the LDP and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) secured a simple majority in the Lower House, salvaging Sanae Takaichi administration from minority government. However, the leading coalition still in short of majority in the Upper House. Representatives Tadashi Morishima (Osaka 2 nd  district), Takeshi Saiki (Hokuriku-Shin-etsu proportional district) and Hiroki Abe (Kyushu proportional district) had a meeting with LDP Secretary General, Shun-ichi Suzuki, and told that they would join LDP group. Suzuki approved their offer. They  told  that it would be important for the government to implement policies or budget bills with their participation.   The Lower House has 465 seats. The LDP had occupied 196 and JIP 34, giving the leading coal...

Both Houses of the Diet held a joint meeting of Committee on Fundamental National Policies, which is called party leaders debate or the Question Time (QT), on November 26 th . In the discussion for the first time since her inauguration, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi   attributed  her careless comment on possible Taiwan contingency to the question by a veteran opposition lawmaker. She also revealed that she did not hope to say about a specific case around Taiwan, indicating that the comment had not been what she meant. In the Committee on Budget of House of Representatives on November 7 th , a lawmaker with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Katsuya Okada,  asked  Takaichi whether a blockade on the sea around Taiwan would make a “survival-threatening situation” in which Japan may use its force. Takaichi answered she would decide based on the actual situation.   Okada further introduced an example that the ...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had  a telephone conversation   with United States President Donald Trump in the morning of November 25 th   (in the evening of November 24 th  in U.S. eastern time), a half day after Trump had talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping through telephone. Although Takaichi refused to reveal the topic of her talk with Trump, it was more than obvious that they discussed Taiwan, over which Japan and China have a diplomatic row.   China has been very swift on taking advantage of Takaichi’s reference to Taiwan contingency, indicating Japan’s possible use of force. China demanded Japan to revise and retract Takaichi’s comment, recommended its citizens not to travel to Japan, resumed ban on importing Japanese seafoods and treated Japanese envoy for explaining Japan’s standpoint with arrogant manner.   Possibly knowing Japan’s sentiment that it did not want the quarrel stemming from careless statement of its prime minister to go beyond a...

One of the staffs of Sanae Takaichi Cabinet has been  rejected  by the House of Councillors with doubt on qualification. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (DCCS), Kei Sato, has not work as a liaison between Prime Minister’s Office and the House, because he is known as involved in the kickback fund scandal in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It is likely to be the matter of responsibility of who appointed him at the position. Obviously, it is Prime Minister Takaichi.   Sato is a member of House of Councillors with two terms from Nara electoral district, which is the home prefecture of Takaichi. As a member of firmer Abe faction in the LDP, Sato accepted the kickback fund, which was a return for ticket sales for fundraising parties, from the faction and did not report the fund as income. That amounted 3.06 million yen.   After being elected prime minister, Takaichi announced that she would appoint lawmakers who had been involved in kickback fund scandal to any position...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi showed her willingness to legislate a new law to regulate spies in her Diet discussion. Takaichi argued that she had been upholding new legislation of Spy Prevention Act in her campaign of presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in October. The legislation was included in the agreement for building new coalition with Japan Innovation Party (JIP). Takaichi insisted that she would take measures to protect Japanese citizens from foreign powers. Raising “Making Japan Strong and Prosperous” as her campaign slogan, Takaichi  promised  the LDP voters to legislate Spy Prevention Act, as well as installing National Intelligence Bureau which would lead ministries related to intelligence. She appealed xenophobic sentiment of Japanese people, arguing that deer in Nara Park was kicked by foreigners.   JIP supports Takaichi’s policy. In  the agreement  for forming a coalition, the LDP and JIP shared a notion that they would st...

Sanae Takaichi Cabinet   authorized  an economic stimulus plan as a cabinet decision on November 22. The plan includes measures to ease negative impact of price inflation, promoting investments, increasing defense budget and some tax cuts with additional governmental spending of 21.3 trillion yen as a total. It will be the biggest supplementary budget in its size of budgetary spendings, since the end of COVID in 2023. Takaichi insisted on surpassing total amount of the supplemental budget of Shigeru Ishiba Cabinet in 2024, which was 13.9 trillion yen in the general account of national budget. She accumulated measures for supporting households, as she had been arguing in presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) or her policy speech to the Diet, to 17.7 trillion yen, and the size of stimulus plan including tax cut for gasoline was swollen to 21.3 trillion yen.   The plan focuses on helping households with governmental spendings. It provides every family w...

Governor of Niigata, Hedeyo Hanazumi, announced that he would approve resumption of reactor #6 and #7 in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). It will be the first attempt for TEPCO to resume a nuclear power reactor, since it had a severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, which caused tens of thousands of evacuees from their hometowns. About a half of residents in Niigata prefecture still embrace fundamental concern on TEPCO’s operation of the plant. In a press conference in Niigata Prefectural Government’s office, Hanazumi  told  that he would approve resumption of the reactors with  seven conditions  to the national government. The conditions are: further explanations to the people in Niigata about safety of the plant, reconfirmation of safety with a new acknowledgement, laying out measures for emergency, removing snow to secure evacuation routes in winter, measures for armed attack or disposal ...