LDP executives to hold decision-making Joint Plenary Meeting soon
The move comes as Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who heads the party, faces pressure to take responsibility for the LDP's losses in the recent Upper House election.
Ishiba and other LDP executives decided on Tuesday to hold the Joint Plenary Meeting of both houses of the Diet.
Ishiba referred to harsh criticism of him at a meeting of party lawmakers the previous day. He said he will accept the opinions in good faith, and make appropriate decisions on the management of the party and his administration.
LDP Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi later told reporters that party members have called for the Joint Plenary to be held, and such calls should be respected.
The party's mid-ranked and young lawmakers have been collecting signatures to seek the Joint Plenary. Moriyama said it is possible to convene the meeting without going through such procedures.
Moriyama said the Chair of the Joint Plenary will listen to the opinions of the lawmakers who have been calling for the meeting.
Asked if the Joint Plenary could decide to bring forward the date of the party's presidential election, Moriyama said the issue is extremely complicated.
He suggested that the party's presidential election management committee would be involved in the issue.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
Japan education ministry OKs plan to exclude foreign PhD students from living expenses aid
TOKYO -- The Japanese education ministry's human resources committee on July 30 broadly approved a plan to limit the recipients of living expenses aid for doctoral candidates to Japanese students only, to be implemented as early as the 2027 academic year. The aid program, known as the "SPRING" (Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation) initiative, was launched in academic 2021 by the ministry's Japan Science and Technology Agency. It pays doctoral candidates up to 2.9 million yen (about $19,200) annually for living and research expenses. In the 2024 academic year, of the total 10,564 recipients, about 40%, or 4,125 individuals, were international students, with Chinese nationals making up the largest number -- 3,151. This led to criticism from ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and others in the Diet. In response, the education ministry reviewed its policy, proposing at the July 30 committee meeting to limit the recipients of living expense support -- up to 2.4 million yen per year -- exclusively to Japanese students. Research funding, on the other hand, will continue to be available to international students. Additionally, the scope of research funding will be expanded to include working students with stable incomes, who were previously ineligible. Meanwhile, some 19,300 signatures collected under the statement, "Do not discriminate against students based on nationality," were presented to the ministry on the same day by people opposing the policy change, accompanied by a protest rally. A ministry official explained, "The policy change reflects the original intent to support Japanese students advancing to doctoral programs, but the ministry acknowledges the importance of supporting international students and plans to address this through other policies."
The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Japan PM Ishiba not to make WWII statement on 80th anniv. of its end
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided not to express his views on World War II on the 80th anniversary of its end on Aug. 15 but may do so later, government sources said Friday. Although Ishiba, believed to be relatively dovish, has already decided not to have a prime minister's statement approved at a Cabinet meeting, he remains eager to offer his perspective and may do so on another occasion, the sources said. Speculation is growing that he will make the announcement on Sept. 2, the date Japan signed the instrument of surrender, rather than Aug. 15, when hostilities ceased, according to the sources. The government had begun selecting experts for an advisory panel to help draft Ishiba's views, but political events, such as U.S.-Japan tariff negotiations and the July 20 House of Councillors election, led to the postponement of its formation, the sources said. Recently, Ishiba has faced strong internal pressure within his Liberal Democratic Party to step down following its heavy loss in the upper house election, while also working to implement the U.S.-Japan tariff agreement. On the anniversary of the end of World War II, Ishiba is expected to deliver a speech at a national memorial service in Tokyo, organized by the government to mourn the war dead, the sources said. In March, Ishiba visited Iwoto Island, formerly known as Iwojima, the site of a fierce World War II battle between Japan and the United States in the Pacific, for the first time since taking office late last year. During his campaign speeches for the upper house election, in which his ruling coalition lost its majority in the chamber, he highlighted the impact of air raids across Japan, stressing the importance of learning lessons from the war. Japan's prime ministers marked the 50th, 60th, and 70th anniversaries with statements that have been scrutinized by Asian neighbors, including China and South Korea, which experienced Japanese wartime aggression. On the 50th anniversary in 1995, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, leader of a major left-leaning party, expressed "deep remorse" and offered his "heartfelt apology" for Japan causing damage and suffering to the people of many nations. In 2015, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative, retained key phrases such as "aggression" and "colonial rule" from the statement a decade earlier and acknowledged Japan's past apologies without offering a new one of his own. Conservative members of the LDP argue Abe's statement on the 70th anniversary marked the end of "apology diplomacy," contending that comments by Ishiba on the 80th anniversary may be unnecessary.
Kyodo News
4 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: Aug. 2, 2025
TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Japan PM Ishiba not to make WWII statement on 80th anniv. of its end TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided not to express his views on World War II on the 80th anniversary of its end on Aug. 15 but may do so later, government sources said Friday. Although Ishiba, believed to be relatively dovish, has already decided not to have a prime minister's statement approved at a Cabinet meeting, he remains eager to offer his perspective and may do so on another occasion, the sources said. ---------- Japan astronaut Yui heads to ISS on SpaceX craft on 2nd space mission CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - A team of astronauts from Japan, Russia and the United States headed to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX craft from Florida on Friday, marking the second space flight for Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. The Crew-11 mission, also involving two Americans and one Russian, will stay at the ISS for about six months, partly to conduct experiments in hopes of helping future lunar exploration. It is expected to reach the ISS in the early hours of Saturday. ---------- Japanese woman attacked in subway station in China, suspect detained SUZHOU, China - A Japanese woman was assaulted while walking with her child at a subway station in Suzhou, eastern China, sustaining a non-life-threatening injury, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai and sources familiar with bilateral relations said Friday. Chinese authorities detained a suspect allegedly involved in the Thursday evening incident in Suzhou, the same city in Jiangsu Province where a Japanese mother and child were injured and a Chinese woman was killed in a knife attack in June last year. ---------- Extra Diet session begins, PM faces emboldened opposition after poll TOKYO - Japan's parliament convened Friday for its first session since the ruling coalition's recent major election setback, as the opposition camp seeks to leverage its increased strength to push for the removal of a temporary gasoline tax while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is on the defensive. During the five-day session, Ishiba will engage in debates with opposition lawmakers over the recently reached Japan-U.S. tariff deal, all the while his standing as ruling party head and prime minister remains precarious amid pressure to resign. ---------- Vietnamese man acquitted of smuggling fake yen banknotes into Japan KUMAMOTO, Japan - A Japanese court ruling that acquitted a Vietnamese former technical intern of smuggling and using over 170 forged 10,000 yen ($66) bills was finalized Friday, after prosecutors did not appeal the verdict. The man, 38, was accused of working with an unknown party from late June to mid-August 2023 to smuggle forged 10,000-yen old banknotes last issued in the 1980s into Japan. ---------- JR East gets OK to raise fares for Yamanote, other lines in March TOKYO - East Japan Railway Co. said Friday it has received government approval to raise fares by an average 7.1 percent from March, the company's first blanket hike since 1987 when it was created from the privatization of the national railway company. The fare hike comes as the operator of Tokyo's busy Yamanote loop line and other train routes seek to secure funds for maintaining its railway services amid a falling population and rising prices. ---------- Japan experienced hottest July for 3rd year, 2.89 C above average TOKYO - Japan logged its hottest July for the third year in a row, with average temperatures 2.89 C above normal, the weather agency said Friday. The average temperature was the highest since comparable records started being kept in 1898, exceeding the previous record set in 2024 by 2.16 degrees. ---------- Japanese man's acquittal of 1986 schoolgirl murder finalized NAGOYA - The acquittal of a Japanese man who served seven years in prison for the 1986 murder of a junior high school student was finalized on Friday after prosecutors waived the right to appeal. The Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court acquitted 60-year-old Shoshi Maekawa over the murder of a teenage girl in Fukui, central Japan, in a retrial last month, dismissing the credibility of the testimony of his acquaintances that led to his initial guilty verdict. ---------- Video: Morioka Sansa dance festival in Iwate Prefecture
