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Japan Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Japan populist party faces complaint over alleged false online post
A local chapter of the Japanese Communist Party said Wednesday it has filed a criminal complaint against the minor populist Sanseito party over an allegedly false social media post ahead of the July 20 House of Councillors election. The post, made on July 7 by the 48-year-old Sanseito candidate in Kanagawa Prefecture, wrote, "Many of my colleagues were murdered by Communist Party members, and the methods were brutal. I still live in fear." He is a former Tokyo Metropolitan Police officer. The JCP said that it delivered a written protest on July 8, demanding an apology and retraction, but received no response, prompting it to file the complaint with prefectural police on Tuesday for defamation and dissemination of false information. The branch argued that leaving the post unchallenged would undermine the fairness of the election, with its chief saying, "There is no truth to the claim that many police officers were killed by Communist Party members." "While policy debate should be open and free, lies and hate speech must not be tolerated," the chief added. In response to media inquiries, the Sanseito candidate defended the post by citing two incidents from the 1950s, including one in which a police officer was fatally shot. "It is a fact that the suspect in the case was a Communist Party member. There's nothing wrong with saying so," he said. Under Japanese laws, knowingly making false statements about others in connection with an election can constitute a criminal offense. The case has drawn attention amid heightened scrutiny of misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric during campaigns. In the run-up to the upper house election, Sanseito has gained traction by advocating stricter controls on foreign residents under its "Japanese First" banner, ranking second in popularity in some recent media polls. © KYODO
The Mainichi
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Mainichi
Japan populist party faces complaint over alleged false online post
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) -- A local chapter of the Japanese Communist Party said Wednesday it has filed a criminal complaint against the minor populist Sanseito party over an allegedly false social media post ahead of the July 20 House of Councillors election. The post, made on July 7 by the 48-year-old Sanseito candidate in Kanagawa Prefecture, wrote, "Many of my colleagues were murdered by Communist Party members, and the methods were brutal. I still live in fear." He is a former Tokyo Metropolitan Police officer. The JCP said that it delivered a written protest on July 8, demanding an apology and retraction, but received no response, prompting it to file the complaint with prefectural police on Tuesday for defamation and dissemination of false information. The branch argued that leaving the post unchallenged would undermine the fairness of the election, with its chief saying, "There is no truth to the claim that many police officers were killed by Communist Party members." "While policy debate should be open and free, lies and hate speech must not be tolerated," the chief added. In response to media inquiries, the Sanseito candidate defended the post by citing two incidents from the 1950s, including one in which a police officer was fatally shot. "It is a fact that the suspect in the case was a Communist Party member. There's nothing wrong with saying so," he said. Under Japanese laws, knowingly making false statements about others in connection with an election can constitute a criminal offense. The case has drawn attention amid heightened scrutiny of misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric during campaigns. In the run-up to the upper house election, Sanseito has gained traction by advocating stricter controls on foreign residents under its "Japanese First" banner, ranking second in popularity in some recent media polls.
11-07-2025
- Politics
2025 POLLS: Komeito, JCP Struggle to Keep Once-Stable Support
News from Japan Politics Jul 11, 2025 19:56 (JST) Tokyo, July 11 (Jiji Press)--After decades of being backed by their unwavering supporter organizations and dedicated party members, Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party are struggling to secure support in the upcoming House of Councillors election. With their support bases aging, the two traditional parties lost seats in last month's Tokyo assembly as new forces emerged and votes were dispersed among many parties. Their proportional representation votes collected in national elections have also been on the decline. Faced with the tough situation, Komeito and the JCP are frantically calling for voters' support in the July 20 election for the upper chamber of parliament in hopes of maintaining their number of seats in the chamber. Speaking to reporters after delivering a stump speech in the western city of Osaka on Thursday, Tetsuo Saito, head of Komeito, said that the Osaka prefectural constituency is seeing a "fierce fight in which it's impossible to predict the number of votes we'll get." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Komeito and JCP struggle with aging support base as Upper House poll approaches
Two political parties that have long been reliant on strong organizational support and dedicated party members — Komeito, a junior party of the ruling coalition, and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) — are facing growing headwinds in the campaign for the Upper House election. With their support bases aging, newer political forces gaining ground and too many parties for voters to choose from, both parties have struggled to maintain voter traction, causing them to lose seats in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in June. Their share of proportional representation votes in national elections continues to decline as well. 'We're in a fierce battle where it's hard to predict the outcome. We need to give it everything we've got,' Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito told reporters Thursday following a campaign stump in the city of Osaka. Komeito once boasted a rock-solid support base in the Kansai region — touted as 'invincible' — but the party suffered a complete loss in all four Osaka electoral districts in the Lower House election last October. Its proportional representation votes, which were once close to 9 million, dropped below 6 million — a record low. Under Saito's leadership, the party sought to reset its trajectory in the Tokyo assembly election, but for the first time in nine elections, the party failed to get a seat for all of the candidates it fielded. Party officials point to the aging membership of its main backer Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhism group, as a key challenge. 'We're also seeing more cases where supporters (other than Soka Gakkai) are passing away,' one party insider said, underscoring the lack of generational turnover. Meanwhile, the JCP, which marks its 103rd anniversary this year, faces similar demographic difficulties. The party's proportional representation vote count has continued to slide, falling to 3.61 million in the 2022 Upper House election and 3.36 million in last year's Lower House poll. The party's official newspaper, Shimbun Akahata, which has been instrumental in breaking stories such as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's political funds scandal, is now struggling with declining subscriptions and has called for ¥1 billion in donations. The party's longstanding policy of cutting the consumption tax has also lost its edge, as nearly all opposition parties now include similar proposals, diluting the JCP's message amid an increasingly fragmented political landscape. In the Upper House poll, Komeito is aiming to retain its 14 seats up for reelection and set a target of 7 million proportional representation votes. The JCP is aiming for at least eight seats — up from the seven up for reelection — and an ambitious 6.5 million votes in the proportional representation. 'We still have a long way to go. I hope we can expand our support,' JCP leader Tomoko Tamura said at a campaign rally in the city of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, on Thursday. Both parties are stepping up efforts to reach out beyond their traditional organizational base, turning to social media in a bid to attract younger voters. Komeito has launched a YouTube sub-channel where its candidates and officials hold talks with prominent online commentators. The JCP, meanwhile, has published a series of short videos addressing common concerns, such as, 'Would Japan become a communist state if we took power?' Party executives appear in the videos to answer those questions. 'We're still figuring things out through trial and error,' Saito said. Translated by The Japan Times
02-07-2025
- Business
2025 POLLS: JCP Chief Vows Reform for Consumption Tax Cut
News from Japan Politics Jul 2, 2025 17:52 (JST) Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Communist Party chief Tomoko Tamura has vowed to achieve a consumption tax cut through drastic tax reform. Taxes have "an income redistribution function," Tamura said in a recent interview ahead of the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament. "We believe that taxes should be imposed on income and profits, and that the consumption tax itself should be scrapped," she said. "It's natural for us to urge for a consumption tax cut in conjunction with tax reform, since financial resources would inevitably be generated (through such efforts)," she added. Tamura "welcomes" similar pledges from other opposition parties to cut the consumption tax rate for the upcoming election. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
