J Update

At the end of 2025, politics in Japan is still in a fundamentally unstable situation with minority government in one of two chambers of the Diet. While the prime minister is struggling in achieving majority in the Upper House, she reveals immaturity in handlings of politics. The government led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is drifting with pressure from other parties which are serious about implementing their own policies. Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba started 2025 with a hung parliament in the Lower House. Ishiba tried to pass FY2025 budget bill by the end of March with detailed policy discussion with some opposition parties. Japan Innovation Party (JIP) voted yes to the budget bill with a trade in which the LDP accepted introduction of free tuition for high schools or reform of social security system.   Although Ishiba survived the ordinary session of the Diet in the first half of 2025, the coalition of the LDP and Komeito lost majority in the Upper House election ...

As reduction of seats in the House of Representatives did not achieve broad support, the parties discuss introduction of multi-seat district in the election of the house. A committee in the house on election reform   discussed  how the parties would be willing to the multi-seat district in the extraordinary session of the Diet. It was obvious that small parties were supportive for the system, while big parties would oppose to it. Post war democracy in Japan was based on multi-seat district system in the Lower House. Each district, allocated to every prefecture according to its population, had multiple seats in the election. For instance, 1 st  district of Hokkaido, which was located to Sapporo and its suburb, had 6 seats. The voters wrote one name among the candidates on the ballot. In the last election of multi-seat district system in 1993, the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Socialist Party took two seats each in the district, Japan New Party and Komeito respectively...

The government of Japan   decided  to raise payment for medical service by 3.09 percent in FY2026. It is for the first time in these thirty years that growth of the payment exceeds three percent. Given overwhelming price inflation in Japanese economy, Sanae Takaichi government hopes to improve the situation of hospitals most of which are having difficulties in management. To provide comprehensive medical treatment for all the nationals, the government of Japan holds examination for medical doctors, nurses or pharmacists to issue licenses every year. Article 19 of  Medical Practitioner’s Act  provides that a medical doctor cannot refuse a demand of patient for having medical treatment. Meanwhile, the government guarantees payment for those medical workers as reward for providing medical treatment.   With evolution of medical study or advanced technology, medical treatment has rapidly been improved and its cost is mostly unaffordable for the patient. So, about a h...

The parties in the Diet   did not reach a conclusion  on measures for maintaining the Imperial Families in the extraordinary session in 2025. While opposition parties with liberal ideology are willing to increase female families, the conservative leading parties insist on keeping male line in the family. The polls show that the people are not so serious about maintenance of male line in the Imperial Families. After Jun-ichiro Koizumi administration made a proposal for female emperor in 2005, the discussion stopped with birth of Prince Hisahito of Akishino in 2006. With concern on declining number of the Imperial Family or increasing role of Emperor and his family, the discussion was again revitalized in the Diet. The families were reduced from 25 in 1998 to 16 now.   Fumio Kishida administration wrapped up a report of experts which proposed two options: 1) female families would remain in the family after marriage, and 2) increasing the family by adopting former imperial f...

Sanae Takaichi Cabinet   approved   FY2026 main budget bill, which marked a record high in volume of 122 trillion yen, with measures supporting consumers suffering from price inflation, in a cabinet meeting on December 26 th . While considering keeping credibility on her bold spendings paying little attention to fiscal balance, Prime Minister Takaichi focused on her own political agenda including accumulation of defense budget.   Takaichi Cabinet will submit the bill to ordinary session of the Diet which will be convoked on January 23 rd . The bill is likely to pass the Diet before the end of March with approval of the leading coalition by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which has a simple majority in the Lower House. Even if the Upper House, in which the coalition does not have a majority, reject the bill, it will pass the Diet with support of constitutional provision that gives the Lower House a priority on budget bill.   Total ...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP)  made  no progress in constitutional amendment during the extraordinary session of the Diet in this fall. Although those two parties agreed on accelerate their discussion for changing Article 9, the LDP is reluctant to implement it. JIP is so ambitious to promote their conservative agenda that the LDP became careful about the negative impact on their administration.   The LDP-JIP  agreement  for forming a coalition just before Sanae Takaichi Cabinet embarked on October described that both parties would establish a discussion body for adding “emergency clause,” which enable to extend the term of Diet member in emergency such as great earthquake or military invasion, in the Constitution of Japan during the extraordinary session. The discussion body had some meetings during the session.   The JIP rather focuses on changing Article 9, which is the core of pacifist Japan renouncing war as a meas...

The Diet could not conclude on regulation for political donation from companies and organizations in the extraordinary session which was closed on December 17 th . While the opposition parties encouraged to promote their bill, the leading coalition of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) blocked it. JIP changed their stance from advocating stricter regulation on the donation to indifference on this issue after the party formed a coalition with the LDP. Regulation on the donation was the hottest issue in 2024 extraordinary session, after the slush fund scandal of factions in the LDP shook the ruling party. Then prime minister Shigeru Ishiba promised to the opposition party that he would conclude this issue by the end of March, 2025. Nevertheless, the LDP has been reluctant to keep the promise and the issue was passed over from 2025 ordinary session to extraordinary session in the fall.   Five opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Part...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) agreed on raising threshold of imposing income tax from 1.60 million yen of annual income to 1.78 million yen on December 18 th . The agreement paved the way for the DPP to join the leading coalition, which is now formed by the LDP and Japan Innovation Party (JIP). The party, which is currently enjoying the greatest approval rate among opposition parties, is seriously considering the option. The DPP insisted on the threshold of 1.78 million yen as its core policy for election campaigns in 2024 and 2025, in which they promised the voters to increase their take-home pay. Although the DPP reached an agreement with the LDP in December 2024 to get that goal, the LDP failed in achieving it by stopping at 1.60 million yen. When LDP president-elect Sanae Takaichi offered coalition with the DPP in October, the DPP refused it, because of the threshold had not reached the goal.   The LDP’s acceptance of 1.78 mill...

Newspapers simultaneously reported on December 19 th   that an anonymous staff in the prime minister’s office   told  the reporters that Japan should possess nuclear weapons in the future. The person, who was in a position to give advices to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on security policies, revealed a personal view to the reporters in the context of enhancing Japan’s own deterrence. The opposition parties in Japan and some neighbor countries strongly opposed to that idea.   Citing severe security environment around Japan with growing nuclear capability of China, nuclear provocation of Russia and nuclear development of North Korea, the staff argued that Japan needed to discuss possession of nuclear weapons of its own, also referring to credibility of nuclear umbrella of the United States. The staff also indicated that no discussion had actually made in Takaichi administration, and admitted that such discussion would be unrealistic, concerning Japan’s obligation to m...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) agreed on their   tax reform proposal for FY2026 . To attract the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), the leading parties not only raised threshold of income tax from 1.60 million yen of annual income to 1.78 million yen, but abolished automobile tax on purchasing a new car. The decision seems more to be implementing political agenda, than fixing problems in financial system of the government.   Raising threshold of income tax has been requested by the DPP for a year. “Increasing take-home pay” was a main slogan of the DPP in the Upper House election in July. The fact that the LDP had not implemented the promise to raise the threshold was the reason why the DPP did not accept an offer from LDP president Sanae Takaichi to form a coalition in October.   The LDP’s answer to DPP’s request had been that raising the threshold would be unreasonable in terms of reforming tax system. Takaichi dealt with the pro...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP)   failed   in enacting the bill for reducing seats in the House of Representatives in the extraordinary session of the Diet, which was closed on December 17 th . Both parties agreed on postponing the issue to the ordinary session of next year. Although JIP regarded the issue as crucial for maintaining coalition with the LDP, it does not show any sign of breaking up the relationship. In the agreement for forming a coalition, the LDP and JIP promised to pass the bill to reduce seats in the Lower House in the extraordinary session in this fall. This issue was upheld by JIP, when it decided to build a coalition with the LDP, instead of promoting regulation on political donation from companies and organizations. It was likely that JIP brought the issue as a justification for not focusing on the donation issue.   JIP believed that seat reduction in Osaka Prefectural Assembly and Osaka City, which had been led b...

Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided, with a unanimous vote, to set a guideline for money market operations, which would encourage the collateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.75 percent, at its monetary policy meeting (MPM) on December 19 th . The rate marked the highest level since 1995. The bank recognized that the trend of wage hike would continue to 2026 with moderate economic growth.   “Japan’s economy has recovered moderately, although some weakness has been seen in part,” BOJ  described  in its document on the discussion in its MPM. The bank raised the interest rate for the first time since it set at 0.5 percent in January, 2025. The main reason for the interest hike was the bank’s optimistic view on further wage hike for next year.   “Corporate profits are expected to remain at high levels on the whole, even after taking into account the impact of tariff policies. In this situation, considering factors such as the stances of labor and management on th...

Public prosecutors   requested  life in prison to the defendant, Tetsuya Yamagami, who was charged with shooting former prime minister Shinzo Abe to death, at the trial in Nara District Court on December 18th. Concerning significance of eliminating politically important figure, there have been arguments for possibility of a death penalty, the prosecutors dropped that choice. Yamagami said nothing about request of the penalty.   Yamagami shot Abe to kill in an election campaign speech in Nara on July 8th, 2022. In the former trials, Yamagami explained that he decided to kill Abe after he realized that Abe had a close relationship with former Unification Church. Yamagami said that he had a strong sentiment against that religious organization, to which his mother donated a large amount of money to the extent his family had been collapsed.   In the fifteenth trial, which became the last one before the court would make a judgement on January 21st in 2026, the prosecutors ...

The Diet   closed   the extraordinary session on December 17 th . While Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was successful in passing a supplementary budget bill, she failed in implementing the agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) to reduce the seat of House of Representatives. As JIP does not show any intention to leave the coalition with the LDP, Takaichi seems to be satisfied with the result of the session.   The 2025 extraordinary session started October 21 st , 17days after Takaichi was elected the LDP president, and she was elected the prime minister on the first day of the session. The LDP and JIP agreed on forming a coalition on October 20 and she achieved approval from those parties, despite departure of Komeito from the coalition with the LDP, which lasted 26 years. Although the LDP-JIP coalition is in short of a simple majority in the Upper House, it passed the line of majority in the Lower House by including three ind...

The House of Councillors   approved   Sanae Takaichi Cabinet’s FY2025 supplemental budget bill on December 16 th . The budget passed the Diet. While the budget focused on measures to help households, which have been suffering from price inflation, it included some policies which required imposing further tax. As doubts on efficiency of the budget for stimulating Japanese economy expand, credibility on financial balance of Japanese government is eroded by a great amount of issuance of governmental bonds.   The size of the budget has swollen to 18.3 trillion yen to help car users through gasoline tax cut, to support families with children through national subsidy which would be 20 thousand yen for each family, and to provide local governments with financial resources so that they can distribute vouchers or other kinds of coupons to the people. To promote those economic policies, the budget assumed issuing 11.6 trillion yen of additional Japanese governmental bonds (JGBs). ...

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP)   agreed   on removing restrictions on export of defense equipment, which has been categorized in five patterns, in their policy discussion on December 15 th . They reached that agreement in the context of revision in the three principles on transferring defense equipment, upheld by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. However, two parties still differ on how to regulate excessive exports to foreign countries. Former prime minister Eisaku Sato decided that Japan should refrain from exporting weapons in  three cases : export to the communist countries, to the countries to which exporting weapons are prohibited by resolution of the United Nations, and to the countries at a conflict.   It was Sato’s nephew, former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who reformed those principles into  three principles on transferring “defense equipment”  in 2014, which allowed Japan to export defense equipment to foreign cou...

Two lawmakers affiliated with Japan Innovation Party (JIP) have spent political fund for payment to cabaret club, where young girls serve drinks and have conversation with customers. It is not to be criticized that an adult individual goes to a club with women’s service with payment from his or her pocket money. However, JIP lawmakers spent political funds, which were made of tax payers’ money. This is what the politics of coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is about. Takemitsu Okushita is a member of House of Representatives with two terms, elected from Osaka 7 th  single-seat district. An organization for controlling political funds topped by him has  paid  36,300 yen for a cabaret club in Akasaka, Tokyo, and 57,200 yen for a “lounge”, another type of bar with service of girls, in Osaka between March and April, 2023. The organization also spent 33,000 to a pub with stage show in Roppongi, Tokyo, in October, 2023. ...

A joint investigation team of police, including the Metropolitan Police Department,   arrested  two people with Chinese nationality with suspicion of violating Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access Act and Financial Instruments and Exchange Act in late November. Those suspects are doubted as having raised price of stock they held by hijacking someone’s online brokerage account. There have been acknowledged by the police 9.3 thousands of cases, in which illegal trades were made, since January, 2025. It is estimated that 710 billion yen was exchanged with those illegal trades. It marked the first case of arresting hijackers in those cases this year, who have been degrading internet stock trade.   Those two Chinese are suspected that they, conspiring with someone, illegally accessed 10 accounts of 10 customers of security companies on March 17 th , 2025. The suspects ordered a large volume of buying or selling shares of a certain company, which was listed on Standard M...

Sanae Takaichi administration   considers  raising the threshold of income tax from current annual 160 million yen to 178 million yen. The level of threshold has been proposed by the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), arguing that it is the core issue for the party. Prime Minister Takaichi seems to have made the decision to approach the DPP for further stability of her administration. Income tax on every individual is imposed with rate of 5 to 45 percent, depending on volume of income. Then, certain deduction is applied to the income. 580 thousand yen is basically deducted from annual income. Another 650 thousand yen of deduction is applied to a salary worker. And the government introduced additional 370 thousand yen of special deduction for a salary worker in 2025. Total tax deduction is currently 1.6 million yen.   The current tax deduction system means that a worker who earns 1.6 million yen or less does not need to pay income tax. That is the system of threshold o...