The new parliamentary session kicked off Monday with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida using his policy speech to call for child care support to be increased to an “unprecedented level” and for defense spending to be raised to ensure Japan’s national security.
The policy speech, however, lacked details on how the extra child care would be funded, and these are not expected to emerge until around June. Funding for the defense spending hike, expected to come from tax hikes, was hammered out last December, but it is also unclear when the tax hikes will be implemented.