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.
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 30, 2013
Ruling bloc to put off reconstruction surcharge decision
by Ayako Mie
The ruling coalition was expected Monday evening to delay until the end of December the decision on whether to end the Tohoku reconstruction surcharge for companies a year earlier than planned, amid mounting criticism that it would not lead to wage hikes — one ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 29, 2013
Komeito fires warning shot at Abe
New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said Sunday the debate over lifting the ban on collective self-defense may affect his party’s coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who heads the conservative LDP, is intending to lift the ban by changing ...
National Sep 21, 2013
Abe's government to put collective self-defense on back burner until spring
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will postpone until next spring a decision on whether to alter the government’s interpretation of the Constitution to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense, amid wariness in junior coalition partner New Komeito, a government source said Saturday. It is ...
Politics & Diplomacy Aug 29, 2013
Abe's collective self-defense ploy may be too hard a sell: New Komeito chief
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's initiative to lift Japan's self-imposed ban on engaging in collective self-defense may not gain public support, New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi suggests
Politics & Diplomacy Aug 14, 2013
LDP partner unlikely to back defense boost
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its pacifist coalition partner, New Komeito, will begin talks shortly among working-level officials on Japan’s right to exercise collective self-defense, although the discussions are expected to be tough and possibly divisive. With a government panel on legal frameworks ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jul 24, 2013
LDP to receive 3.5% more in state subsidies after election victory
The Liberal Democratic Party will receive ¥15.062 billion in state subsidies this year, up 3.5 percent from the previous estimate, after the ruling party’s landslide victory in Sunday’s House of Councilors election, a Jiji Press estimate has revealed. The LDP came out of the ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jul 14, 2013
LDP, New Komeito joust on collective self-defense
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally, New Komeito, sparred over the issue of whether Japan had the right to engage in collective self-defense under the Constitution during a TV program Sunday. “It is theoretically possible for Japan to exercise its collective ...
Politics & Diplomacy | Making Their Case Jun 29, 2013
New Komeito chief vows to counter Abe if he tries to change Article 9
by Ayako Mie
New Komeito President Natsuo Yamaguchi said Friday his party will continue to act as a counterweight to the Liberal Democratic Party if the senior coalition partner aggressively pursues revising the war-renouncing Article 9 or exercising the right of collective self-defense after the Upper House ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jun 28, 2013
Komeito to campaign for nuke phaseout, denies disconnect with LDP
by Ayako Mie
New Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, pledged Thursday to push for a nuclear phaseout at the earliest possible date and bolster the Constitution by adding more provisions, a sharp contrast to the LDP’s desire to promote atomic power ...
Politics & Diplomacy May 5, 2013
Article 96 invites sent out to Ishin, Your Party
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged opposition groups Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) and Your Party to help him revise Article 96 of the Constitution to make it easier to amend the supreme code. “I’m asking for cooperation in forming a majority” ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jan 24, 2013
Ruling bloc airs tax plan, eye on poll
by Reiji Yoshida
The LDP-led government outlines a list of tax reform goals for fiscal 2013 that raises taxes on the rich, scratches breaks for the poor and curries favor ahead of Upper House poll.