Tag - diet

 
 

DIET

Aso serves as the head of the LDP's task force on Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2025
Conservative heavyweights join forces in LDP panel on Indo-Pacific
The panel has prompted speculation it could serve as an occasion to coalesce support against the government in the upcoming months.
Liberal Democratic Party executives at a General Council meeting on Tuesday at the party's headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2025
LDP approves pension reform legislation
The government aims to adopt the legislation at a Cabinet meeting Friday and submit it to the current session of the Diet, the country's parliament.
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.
Since the LDP resumed discussions on the issue in February, members against introducing a selective dual surname system have been gaining momentum, calling for expanding the use of maiden names.
JAPAN
May 12, 2025
LDP to forgo compiling bill on dual surname system
The LDP concluded that it would be unwise to create divisions within the party ahead of this summer's election for the House of Councilors.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (right) responds to questions from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (left) at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on April 14.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2025
Hung parliament keeps Lower House Legislative Bureau busy
As each party pushes its own agenda by drafting its own bills, the workload increases for the bureau, which supports lawmakers in such matters.
Takahiro Anno, 34, announced Thursday that he will run in the Upper House election this summer as president of his newly founded party, Team Mirai.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2025
After Tokyo election bid, AI engineer Takahiro Anno to run in Upper House race
Anno described entering the race without backing as a ‘baseless, fameless and fundless’ challenge, but said he thinks he has a good chance of winning.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters about Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations at his official residence on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 5, 2025
Tariff talks with U.S. seen influencing Japan's Upper House election
The outcome of the ongoing bilateral negotiations will have a major impact on this summer's election in the Upper House.
The Diet building in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2025
Parties remain apart on social media rules for elections
Senior officials of ruling and opposition parties broadly agreed Saturday on the need to regulate election misinformation on social media, but were apart over specific measures.
The focus of this summer's election will be whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition can secure a majority of 125 seats in the Upper House, including seats that are not up for grabs in the upcoming race.
JAPAN / Politics
May 1, 2025
315 people gearing up to run in Japan's Upper House race
The focus will be on whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition will secure an Upper House majority of 125 seats.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 30, 2025
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Japan remains the only country in the world that forces couples to use one surname after marriage.
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 30, 2025
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
A shared sense of national crisis and a desire to appeal to voters ahead of the July Upper House elections is pushing opposition parties to speak up.
Hiroshi Moriyama (left), secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meets with Zhao Leji, the third-ranking official of the Chinese Communist Party, in Beijing on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 29, 2025
LDP’s Moriyama pushes for concrete results on China’s seafood import ban
China offered no specific promises, instead emphasizing the stability of Japan-China relations at a time of great international volatility.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 28, 2025
CDP's about-face piles pressure on LDP to cut consumption tax on food
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Yoshihiko Noda pledged that the party will abolish the consumption tax on food products for a year.
A group of lawyers representing a former journalist — who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a now-deceased secretary of a lawmaker — speak at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday following a ruling that ordered the government to pay damages to her.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025
Government ordered to pay over sexual assault by lawmaker's former aide
A Tokyo court ordered the ¥4.4 million ($30,850) payment to a former female journalist who was allegedly assaulted by the now-deceased government-paid secretary.
Parliament on Friday in Tokyo
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2025
LDP plans to submit pension reform bill in mid-May
Pension system reform is a key issue in the second half of the ongoing ordinary parliament session.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 17
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2025
Opposition slams Ishiba's gas price cut while calling to scrap provisional tax
Ishiba's decision would lower gas prices by ¥10 per liter starting May 22, but nixing the provisional gas tax would lower prices by ¥25.
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 21, 2025
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Among the world’s largest democracies, Japan has some of the highest minimum age requirements for politicians.
A vegetable stand displays prices at a supermarket in Tokyo in 2023. Some lawmakers are proposing lowering the consumption tax on food to 0%, which is expected to result in a loss of up to ¥5 trillion in tax revenue annually.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025
LDP and CDP lawmaker groups propose 0% consumption tax on food
Reducing the tax to 0% is expected to result in a loss of up to ¥5 trillion in tax revenue annually.
A revised child welfare bill passed the Upper House plenary session on Friday as cases of child abuse rise.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 18, 2025
New bill blocks visitations for parents suspected of child abuse
The revision to the child welfare law is intended to protect children in cases where contact with their parents could cause emotional or physical harm.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?