Tag - 2025-upper-house-election

 
 

2025 UPPER HOUSE ELECTION

An Upper House plenary session earlier this month. The Upper House election is likely to take place on July 20.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2025
Upper House election likely to take place July 20
Whether the CDP will submit a no-confidence motion against the Ishiba Cabinet is set to be the main focus in the closing days of the current parliamentary session.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has no plans to dissolve the Lower House during the current session, which lasts through June 22.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025
Upper House election set for July 20, media report says
Campaigning for the election is set to begin on July 3.
Former Lower House lawmaker Shiori Yamao at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2025
DPP withdraws election candidacy of scandal-hit Shiori Yamao
The move came in the wake of backlash aimed at the party for fielding Yamao, who has been mired in a series of scandals.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Liberal Democratic Party executive meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
As election looms, Ishiba pledges ¥1 quadrillion GDP by 2040
Ahead of the Upper House election, the prime minister has unveiled the ambitious target, along with raising the average income by at least half.
Japan faces soaring rice prices, a powerful farming cooperative resistant to change, declining farmer numbers, falling rice consumption and conflicting government policies that hinder effective reform of the sector.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2025
How ‘vintage’ rice is shaking up Japanese politics
Rice is where consumers have drawn the line. The staple rose by 98% in the past year, adding almost half a percentage point to headline inflation.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
The lawmaker, sometimes said to be long on image and short on substance, has won praise for bringing down the price of rice.
A group of media companies have launched a fact-checking initiative for election-related online information, beginning with this month's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
Media firms launch election fact-checking initiative
The collaboration between Jiji Press, the Yomiuri Shimbun group, Saga Shimbun and Nippon Television Network aims to enhance the fairness and credibility of fact-checking work.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
Komeito to propose sales tax cut on food, Yomiuri reports
A Komeito official confirmed the report, saying the tax cut idea will be among proposals in the campaign pledge due on Friday.
An election poster board set up in Tokyo's Suginami Ward on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2025
Tokyo installs extra-large campaign boards ahead of metropolitan assembly vote
In some areas, boards with up to 70 slots are being installed, a move also intended to prepare for the Upper House election that will follow shortly after.
LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks during an event in Nakatane, Kagoshima Prefecture, earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics
May 24, 2025
LDP holds meeting to let proponents of tax cut blow off steam
The LDP leadership has decided not to include a consumption tax reduction in its campaign pledges for the upcoming Upper House election.
Democratic Party for the People head Yuichiro Tamaki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 23, 2025
Three Upper House candidates are creating headaches for DPP
The DPP hopes to win more seats this summer, but keeping every candidate on-message could be a challenge for leader Yuichiro Tamaki.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025
Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears
When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto (left), who resigned on Wednesday, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2025
Shinjiro Koizumi takes farm ministry reins after predecessor's rice gaffe
Taku Eto resigned from the post after coming under fire for bragging about how much rice his supporters give him.
Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 21, 2025
Nippon Ishin grapples with poor governance ahead of Upper House election
Scandals, resignations and local election losses have left it far short of becoming Japan’s largest opposition force or a ruling party.
As Japan confronts global economic shifts and mounting fiscal pressures, its upcoming election risks being consumed by a stale, politically fraught debate over the consumption tax.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2025
Don’t reopen the ‘demon's gate’ debate in Japan
As Japan confronts global economic shifts and mounting fiscal pressures, its upcoming election risks being consumed by a stale, politically fraught debate over the consumption tax.
Support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government was at 27.4%, down from 32.6% a month ago, a Kyodo poll showed.
JAPAN / Politics
May 18, 2025
Support for Japan PM Ishiba hits record low as rice price soars, poll shows
Support for Ishiba's government was at 27.4%, down from 32.6% a month ago, a Kyodo poll showed.
With Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition in crisis, the opposition divided and the Democratic Party for the People gaining momentum, Japan’s upcoming Upper House election could trigger a major political realignment.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2025
Elections are fast approaching, and none of the big parties are ready
With Ishiba in place, the fear that the LDP could next lose its current majority in the Upper House in July is pervasive.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 13, 2025
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Broaching the subject has traditionally been seen as akin to kicking a hornet's nest.
Senior officials of Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito agreed Tuesday on the need to draft a supplementary budget before a possible extraordinary session of the Diet this autumn.
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2025
LDP and Komeito agree to draft supplementary budget before autumn session
The extra budget is expected to fund measures to deal with inflation and the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks in the city of Kagoshima on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 12, 2025
LDP and CDP see consumption tax cut as election issue
CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda told reporters in Sapporo that if the ruling camp does not decide on the consumption tax cut, it would have to become an election issue.

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