Tag - lower-house

 
 

LOWER HOUSE

Hirotada Ototake interacts with voters during a campaign stop in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 23, 2024
Man arrested over assault of Tokyo by-election campaign staffer
The suspect allegedly pushed a male staff member of candidate Hirotada Ototake, resulting in minor injuries.
Voters listen to a speech by a candidate for a Lower House seat in the upcoming Tokyo No. 15 district by-election.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2024
CDP-backed candidates seen leading in all three Japan by-elections
Candidates backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan are in the lead ahead of three by-elections.
A bill to tackle the low birthrate is passed at a Lower House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 19, 2024
Lower House approves bill aimed at tackling low birthrate
The government plans to start collecting the fees in fiscal 2026 and gradually increase the amounts to secure ¥1 trillion annually from fiscal 2028.
A bill on expanding legal support for crime victims clears the Lower House on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024
Japan enacts bill to help crime victims
The bill to revise the comprehensive legal support law was approved unanimously at a plenary session of the House of Representatives.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of children's policies (right), stands after a bill on expanding child-rearing allowances clears a Lower House committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2024
Lower House panel approves bill aiming to address low birthrate
The bill will expand child-rearing allowances, funded through a new system to collect additional fees on top of public medical insurance premiums.
LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and election strategy committee chair Yuko Obuchi speak to reporters in Tokyo on April 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2024
By-elections to determine Kishida’s fate within LDP
Losing in the Shimane No. 1 district, long an LDP stronghold, would mark a major blow to the prime minister.
Author Hirotada Ototake declares his candidacy for the April 28 House of Representatives by-election in the Tokyo No. 15 constituency during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 12, 2024
LDP won't endorse author Hirotada Ototake in Tokyo by-election
The by-election for the lower chamber of parliament will be held to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of ex-LDP member Mito Kakizawa.
Author Hirotada Ototake declares his candidacy for the April 28 House of Representatives by-election in the Tokyo No. 15 constituency during a news conference in Tokyo Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2024
Japanese author Ototake to run in Lower House by-election
Ototake, who was born without arms or legs, says he wants to "help people in need through the power of politics."
Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2024
LDP not to field candidates in two Lower House by-elections
The ruling party will not field candidates in two of three upcoming by-elections amid headwinds the party faces over a slush fund scandal.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) and Yuichiro Tamaki (right), leader of the Democratic Party for the People, hold a party leaders' debate in June 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024
Is Japan-style 'question time' facing abolition in parliament?
Both ruling and opposition parties have shown a lack of enthusiasm for holding such events, with some forces even advocating for its abolition.
Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai announces that he will not run in the next Lower House election during a news conference at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2024
LDP heavyweight Nikai says he won't run for reelection
Toshihiro Nikai, 85, said he had conveyed his decision to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as the LDP grapples with an ongoing political funds scandal.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during an Upper House Budget Committee session on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2024
Kishida denies intent to dissolve Lower House in April
The prime minister was grilled on his reason for rushing the passage of the government's fiscal 2024 draft budget last week.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other lawmakers bow after the Lower House passed the fiscal 2024 draft budget on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 2, 2024
After lengthy delay, Japan's Lower House passes fiscal 2024 budget
The Lower House cleared the bill after deliberations in which the opposition grilled the prime minister over the party's ongoing political funds scandal.
Kakizawa was serving his fifth term as a member of the House of Representatives until he stepped down as a lawmaker earlier this month following his indictment.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 14, 2024
Former LDP lawmaker pleads guilty to illegal campaign financing
Mito Kakizawa said he would not contest the charges, which relate to a Tokyo ward mayoral election last April that was won by a candidate he backed.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2024
Japan's LDP concerned about headwinds in Lower House by-elections
The Nagasaki race is designed to fill the vacancy of a former LDP member embroiled in a funds scandal.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2024
Hayashi denies agreeing to Unification Church policies
The chief cabinet secretary said he had not agreed to the policies of the church during a meeting with people linked to the religious group in 2021.
The Tokyo headquarters of the Unification Church in Shibuya Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2023
Japan enacts law to monitor Unification Church assets
The special legislation is designed to ensure that victims of the organization's malpractices have a source of relief.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 20, 2023
Kishida’s support rate hits new lows in three major polls
Polls by three major newspapers — the Yomiuri, Asahi and Mainichi — showed Kishida’s support rate at 24%, 25% and 21%, respectively.
Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida take part in a news conference in September 2021 in the lead-up to the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 15, 2023
Takaichi makes another play to become the next PM
With the creation of a new study group, Cabinet minister Sanae Takaichi aims to build support for her bid for the top political job.
Ichiro Ozawa (third from right) with other members of parliament at a ceremony to launch a new party in Tokyo in July 2012.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 15, 2023
Ichiro Ozawa is once again looking for a way to defeat the LDP
The octogenarian political veteran is looking to cap his long career with another successful drive to defeat the ruling LDP at the polls.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores