Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Business | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Juicy stimulus plan already in works
The Liberal Democratic Party is primed to compile a large-scale supplementary budget for fiscal 2012 to rev up the economy after its landslide victory in Sunday’s Lower House election. For the regular budget for fiscal 2013 starting next April, the LDP plans massive public ...
Business | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Keidanren chief praises election results, calls for strong leadership
Kyodo The chief of the nation’s largest business lobby on Monday welcomed the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the general election and called for strong leadership in rebuilding the economy, promoting free trade and other issues. The victory “is an indication of people’s ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Communists, SDP struggle to remain relevant
The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, two small but enduring opposition groups in the Diet, lost seats in Sunday’s general election as several “third-force” groups emerged to challenge the status quo. The JCP, headed by Kazuo Shii, slid from nine seats ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
LDP charges back, vows to regain voter confidence
by Reiji Yoshida
After winning more than two-thirds of the Lower House in Sunday’s general election, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito are set to launch a coalition government as early as next week, with hawkish LDP leader Shinzo Abe becoming prime minister. Abe, who served ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Women's ranks slip to 38 seats
The number of women elected to the Lower House on Sunday fell to 38 — or 7.9 percent of the 480 members — after setting record highs in the previous two races of 43 in 2005 and 54 in 2009. The decline was particularly ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Inose wins landslide victory in Tokyo
Naoki Inose, a prizewinning writer turned Tokyo’s deputy chief, won by a landslide in Sunday’s gubernatorial election, garnering more than 4 million votes, the most ballots an individual has ever won, final returns showed Monday. Inose, 66, who was named by predecessor Shintaro Ishihara, ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Voter turnout plummeted to a record postwar low
Voter turnout Sunday set a new postwar low for Lower House elections, the government said Monday. Turnout sank to 59.32 percent for single-seat constituencies and 59.31 percent for the proportional representation segment, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Both figures represent a ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Ozawa only DPJ defector to win district
Ichiro Ozawa, the former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan also known as “the destroyer,” was the only one of the party’s 71 defectors to win a single-seat district Sunday. Ozawa, now a member of the newly formed Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
DPJ blows chance to establish two-party rule
by John Brinsley and Isabel Reynolds
It took 54 years for the nation’s politics to produce a viable opposition party, and 39 months for it to self-destruct after winning power, splintering prospects for an enduring policy-driven two-party system. The Democratic Party of Japan lost three-fourths of its seats in the ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Nothing left for the election-gutted DPJ to do but rebuild
by Masami Ito
The drubbing taken by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan on Sunday left it with just 57 seats and one option: to rebuild. That is expected to be easier said than done. The DPJ had 230 seats before Noda dissolved the lower ...
Business | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Yen skids to 20-month low against dollar after LDP victory
The yen fell to its weakest level versus the dollar since April 2011 after Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power in Sunday’s election, giving him a chance to act on pledges of expanded fiscal and monetary stimulus. The yen tumbled to ...
National | ELECTION 2012 Dec 18, 2012
Economy, split of antinuclear vote, aided LDP
by Ayako Mie
The economy prevailed over nuclear power in the minds of voters in Sunday’s general election, dealing a setback to antinuclear parties, including the newly established Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan) and the Social Democratic Party. Even so, pundits and antinuclear activists ...