J Update

The Supreme Court   decided  that the election of House of Representatives in 2024 was not violated the Constitution of Japan, which stipulates people’s equality under the law, in a lawsuit demanding equality in value of one vote. Evaluating electoral reform in 2022, the court approved the effort of the House to diminish the gap of values in each vote. The plaintiffs complained about indifference of the court on inequality in political participation for the people.   The gap of one vote is calculated by how many eligible voters were in a single-seat district of Lower House election. In the election on October 27 th , 2024, a voter in Tottori 1 st  district had the greatest value among all 289 single-seat districts, because the district had the smallest population. On the other hand, a voter in Hokkaido 3 rd  district had the smallest value, because the district had the greatest population. The value of one vote in Tottori 1 st  was 2.06 times greater than i...

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba   visited   Busan, the second largest city of the Republic of Korea, on September 30 th , in a series of mutual visits by the leaders of both countries, which is called “shuttle diplomacy.” In their summit meeting, Iashiba reconfirmed with ROK president Lee Jae Myung their intention to stably develop bilateral relations of their countries and continue communication on various aspects including security, even after Ishiba would step down as prime minister in mid-October. It was the first meeting of both leaders since they had met in Tokyo in August, trying to prove that their shuttle diplomacy was working. Ishiba insisted that he hoped Japan and ROK to make most frequent exchanges than any other countries. Lee expected further advance of the bilateral relations through their shuttle diplomacy. Ishiba visited a grave of Lee Soo-hyun before the meeting, who lost his life when jumped down on the railway of Shin-Okubo station and hit buy a train, tryin...