Assets of Lawmakers Are Reduced

Based on House Members Asset Disclosure Act, the House of Representatives disclosed the report on properties possessed by each member of the House. The average of asset for a lawmaker who had been elected last October marked a record low. The report showed a fact that lawmakers are the positions for ordinary people who are not wealthy enough to carry on election campaign. 

It is traditionally said in Japan that a lawmaker needs three Bs: basis, banner and bag. “Basis” means basic voters who firmly support a candidate. “Banner” is well-known name, as elections in Japan require to write down a name of candidate on the ballot. “Bag” implies a bag to carry money which is necessary to maintain election campaign and political activities as a lawmaker. It has been said as a reason why Japan has a lot of inherited lawmakers, because a child of lawmaker has advantage for securing those three Bs.

 

Each House of the Diet discloses properties of each member after every election. The House of Representatives disclosed assets of all 465 lawmakers, including land property, building, deposit, debt or stocks. The average amount of a member of the Lower House was 26.69 million yen, reducing by 2.55 million yen from last disclosure in April, 2022. It was the lowest record, since the beginning of disclosure in 1993.

 

Because the report does not include cash or deposit in ordinary account for checking or savings, some lawmakers report themselves as having no asset for disclose. Such lawmakers with no asset increased after the last election. Veterans who had a great amount of asset retired before the last election. Regardless amount of their assets, the retired lawmakers included former Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, and former chairman of Abe faction in the LDP, Ryu Shionoya. Those two were involved in the slush fund scandal last year.

 

The top lawmaker with the greatest asset is Taro Aso, the supreme adviser of LDP and former prime minister. Aso possesses his assets equivalent to 601.5 million yen, which include real estates in his hometown Fukuoka, in City of Shibuya in downtown Tokyo and in Karizawa, a resort town in Nagano prefecture. Aso was followed by Ichiro Aisawa with 601 million yen and Ryosei Tanaka with 444 million yen. All the top five lawmakers were from the LDP.

 

Lawmakers with no asset increased to 94, adding 17 to the previous disclosure. They include Shinjiro Koizumi, whose father is former prime minister Jun-ichiro Koizumi, and the head of Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki. It can be said that they do not have a great “bag”, even though they own “basis” and “banner.” The average assets owned by newly-elected 99 members was 9.82 million yen, declining by 8.83 million yen from three years ago.

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