Two new parties were officially launched Friday as the opposition Japan Restoration Party headed by former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto dissolved over a proposed merger with the smaller opposition Yui no To party.
A group of 22 lawmakers in both houses of the Diet formed the Party for Future Generations, and filed the report of the establishment of the new party with Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo.
Takeo Hiranuma, a former trade minister, heads the new party, while House of Representatives member Hiroshi Yamada is the new party's secretary-general. Ishihara, a lower house member, is expected to serve as the top adviser of the new party headquartered in Tokyo.
Another group of 38 Diet members also set up a new party which inherited the name of the Japan Restoration Party and filed the report of the party's establishment with Shindo.
The Japan Restoration Party based in Osaka and led by Hashimoto is expected to merge with the 14-member Yui no To party led by lower house member Kenji Eda, in early September.
Eda, former secretary-general of Your Party, launched the Yui no To party last December following internal strife with Your Party founder and then leader Yoshimi Watanabe.
