The Mainichi News Quiz Answer for July 29
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The Mainichi
15 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Newly elected legislator LaSalle Ishii arrives at upper house with school backpack
TOKYO -- An extraordinary session of the Diet was convened Aug. 1, with newly elected House of Councillors members arriving at the Diet building for the first time since the July 20 election, including LaSalle Ishii of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who turned up with a small school backpack. Explaining his reason for sporting the "randoseru" backpack, commonly used by elementary school students in Japan, the 69-year-old Ishii said, "It's because I'm a brand new first year student." He was presented with a bouquet of flowers by party leader Mizuho Fukushima. Surrounded by reporters, he remarked, "There are more cameras than ever before. I keenly feel that this is a heavy responsibility." Ishii has a past career as an actor. Regarding his activities as a lawmaker, he expressed enthusiasm, saying, "People say 'the SDP's claims are just nice words,' but I want to advance politics with the mindset, 'What's wrong with having idealistic dreams?'" (Japanese original by Tohru Shirakawa, Tokyo Bureau)
Japan Times
16 hours ago
- Japan Times
Is this the end of Japan's 'big tent' parties?
In Japan's recent Upper House election, four traditional parties — the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party — suffered the most significant losses. The LDP and Komeito together lost 24 seats, saw a sharp drop in the national vote and lost their Upper House majority. The CDP lost one seat but, as the largest opposition party, still placed a surprising fourth with just 12.5% of the national vote. The JCP lost four seats. The LDP and the CDP are considered the "big tent" parties because both have clear conservative and liberal wings. The big winners of the day were newer conservative parties — the Democratic Party for the People, Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan — along with the far-left Reiwa Shinsengumi. Sanseito picked up 14 seats and finished third with 12.55% of the national vote. The DPP gained 12 seats and placed second with 12.88%. The CPJ, contesting its first election, won two seats, and Reiwa added one. If you add the national vote totals by conservative leaning and liberal leaning, you find something quite interesting. Conservative parties gathered over over 35 million votes, while liberal parties only gathered around 17 million. Most commentary in Japan speaks in terms of the ruling parties versus the opposition. But there is an argument that the current turmoil in Japanese politics comes from the fact that the LDP and CDP lack clear policies because they constantly try to balance the conflicting views of their conservative and liberal wings. Today's Japanese voters are seeking clarity on issues vital to them, not an outdated homogenized message. The LDP and CDP are losing to newer parties that have clear policies and sharper messaging. Some advocates of political reform in Japan lament the fact that the country's opposition parties are unable to coordinate their activities effectively to defeat the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition. A coalition of the opposition, comprising strongly conservative parties alongside extreme liberal parties, has always been more challenging to manage than even the traditional big tent parties. It is no wonder that they cannot coordinate an election strategy after the most recent Upper House election or agree whether to file a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, which they are struggling with today. Of course, there is no credibility that they could run a government. Other reformers have complained that Japan lacks a system of rotating ruling parties between the conservative and liberal camps. Perhaps that is what comes next if the big tent parties break up. Is that conceivable? After losing three primary elections in the past 10 months under the leadership of Ishiba, there is now a war under way within the LDP to force him to resign. With the full support of the liberal wing, Ishiba won the LDP leadership role in 2024, which handed him the prime ministerial chair, an inconceivable event had conservative wing leader Shinzo Abe not been murdered in 2022. Ishiba's election came on the heels of what should have been a minor political funds reporting scandal that involved members of the conservative wing. However, even former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's group had reporting issues. Since then, the liberal wing, first under Kishida and then Ishiba, has used the scandal at every opportunity to sideline conservative members. The conservative wing is ready to revolt if Ishiba refuses to resign and accept accountability. So, while not certain, the LDP is as close as it has been since 1955 to a split. CDP members have never really gotten along, given all the splits and mergers since the party emerged from the remnants of the Democratic Party of Japan. Before the recent election, public accusations and demands from former party leaders that others should leave the party surfaced. The CDP now seems ripe for more change. A recent poll by the Yomiuri of all the opposition parties' preferences for the next prime minister, assuming they came from the LDP, might provide some insight. Sanae Takaichi of the LDP's conservative wing was the favorite among members of the more conservative parties such as the DPP, Sanseito and the CDP. Ishiba seemed more popular among the members of the liberal parties. Birds of a feather? The Yomiuri poll is interesting on two fronts: It may signal how feasible it will be for Ishiba, assuming he remains, to create a new ruling coalition with the addition of one of the conservative parties, an absolute necessity now that he has lost the majority in both houses of the parliament. Would Takaichi not find it easier? Secondly, it also signals how feasible it would be for a Takaichi-led conservative wing of the LDP, not only to split off from the LDP, but also to assemble a new majority under a new conservative party banner made up of the four conservative parties and perhaps a conservative group that splits off from the CDP. After the election results, Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya suggested that the LDP is losing power because no one can understand what the LDP stands for anymore, given the differing views of the conservative and liberal wings. The same thing could be said for the CDP. Perhaps the era of big tent parties has come to an end and a realignment along ideological lines is where Japanese politics is headed. Edo Naito is a commentator on Japanese politics, law and history. He is a retired international business attorney and has held board of director and executive positions at several U.S. and Japanese multinational companies.
Yomiuri Shimbun
17 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Extraordinary Diet Session Kicks Off; Opposition Parties Call for Clarification on Japan-U.S. Tariff Agreement
The 218th extraordinary Diet session convened Friday. It is the first Diet session since last month's House of Councillors election, where the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost its majority in the upper house, having already done so in the House of Representatives last year. Elections for the upper house's president and vice president were held. As is custom, the president was picked from the largest member party, and the vice president was picked from the largest opposition party. LDP lawmaker Masakazu Sekiguchi was reappointed as upper house president at the plenary session on Friday and Tetsuro Fukuyama from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was elected vice president. The session will last for five days until Tuesday. This post-election session is normally limited to such formalities as the house presidential and vice presidential elections. At a request from opposition parties, however, discussions on the Japan-U.S. tariff agreement will be held during the current session at the budget committees of the lower house on Monday and of the upper house on Tuesday. At the committees, Ishiba and economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa will explain the details of the agreement and the course of the negotiations. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday at a press conference, 'We will thoroughly explain our policies including on the Japan-U.S. tariff agreement and respond sincerely to the Diet deliberations.' Bill on gasoline tax submitted Seven opposition parties jointly submitted a bill to the lower house Friday to scrap the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate. The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to abolish the tax rate within this year and plan to pass the bill at the extraordinary session scheduled for autumn, instead of voting on it at the current session. Under the terms of the bill, the add-on gasoline tax rate of ¥25.1 per liter would be abolished from Nov. 1. The seven parties that submitted the bill were the CDPJ, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party, Sanseito, the Conservative Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party.
