Tag - diet

 
 

DIET

October's by-elections will be the first national elections since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2023
October by-elections to be first test for Kishida's new government
The results of the by-elections are expected to influence Kishida's strategy for dissolving the Lower House for a general election.
Sanae Takaichi, who retained her post as economic security minister, plans to submit a revised economic security bill that includes a security clearance system during a parliamentary session starting in early 2024.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 17, 2023
Japan plans to create 'security clearance' system in 2024
Concerns have been growing over missed research and business opportunities overseas due to the lack of clear security protocols.
Wakako Yata, who was appointed as a special adviser to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday, shakes hands with him at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2023
Appointment fuels speculation of LDP-Komeito-DPP coalition
On Friday, Wakako Yata, a former lawmaker who previously served as vice president of the DPP, was named special adviser to the prime minister.
A team of lawyers — which represent the plaintiffs of a lawsuit claiming that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet neglected their constitutional obligation to call a parliamentary session — walk to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2023
Top court rejects claims over Abe's failure to call Diet session
Presiding Justice Yasumasa Nagamine at the top court's Third Petty Bench made the decision to dismiss the three appeals.
Japan Wind Development's Tohoku headquarters in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2023
Internal email sheds light on wind-power bribery scandal
Tokyo prosecutors have obtained an email as possible evidence of Akimoto having made statements before lawmakers at the request of Tsukawaki.
Lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto makes a speech advocating for renewable energy, in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture in March 2021.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 7, 2023
Ex-LDP member and offshore wind advocate arrested over bribery
Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of receiving ¥60 million from Masayuki Tsukawaki, then-president of Japan Wind Development.
Masatoshi Akimoto
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2023
Ex-energy firm chief says lawmaker bribed for Diet interventions
Known as an advocate of renewable energy, Akimoto, 48, left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and resigned as parliamentary vice foreign minister.
Yuko Obuchi, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and the House of Representatives, speaks during the party's annual convention in Tokyo in February.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 27, 2023
Future female PM candidates in spotlight as Cabinet reshuffle looms
At present, women account for only about 10% of the lawmakers in the Lower House, while the proportion stands at some 27% in the upper chamber.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on June 15, just before telling reporters that he had no intention to dissolve the Lower House.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2023
CDP eyes bill to limit PM's power to dissolve Lower House
By introducing stricter procedures, the main opposition force aims to highlight its efforts to prevent the prime minister from abusing such powers.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits a company that makes temperature sensors, in the city of Toyama on Aug. 10.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 17, 2023
Kishida may call snap election to halt rise of rival Nippon Ishin
The prime minister, however, must first regain his standing in the polls to a level where he will feel more confident about holding an election.
Masayuki Tsukawaki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 13, 2023
Japan Wind Development chief likely to admit bribing lawmaker Akimoto
It was newly found that Akimoto received ¥30 million, separately from the suspected bribe, from around 2019 for applying to the Japan Racing Association.
Masatoshi Akimoto at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2023
Scandal-hit ex-LDP member a major backer of renewable energy
Masatoshi Akimoto opposes building new nuclear reactors or replacing current ones, and has said that wind power in particular has much potential.
Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto visits a high-speed rail project site in Ahmedabad, India, in May 2018.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2023
Scandal-tainted Japanese lawmaker sought money to buy horse
Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of receiving ¥30 million from the president of a company between 2021 and this year.
Beyond Meat plant-based burger patties for sale at a plant-based grocery store in Hong Kong in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023
The coming disruption of animal production
It will be easier to persuade people to avoid meat from animals if they can eat meat and other animal products that taste like those they know, but do not require raising animals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 11, 2023
Japan tries to turn page on eugenics policies, but related ideas persist
A 1,400-page report by parliament on forced sterilizations of people with disabilities sets out Japan's grim history with eugenics, but experts say the matter is far from closed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2023
Japanese lawmakers' average income falls to ¥21.5 million
In the House of Representatives, the average income stood at ¥22.15 million, while that of the Upper House was ¥20.16 million.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 25, 2023
Parties have 708 candidates lined up for next Lower House poll
Many people speculate that Kishida may dissolve the Lower House for a snap election in the fall.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2023
Kishida comes away from parliamentary session with key goals achieved
Out of 60 bills it submitted, 58 became law, a 96.7% passage rate — a slight drop from the equivalent session last year, where all 61 bills received parliament's approval.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2023
Japan's weakened LGBTQ law entrenches existing discrimination, activists say
While pushback against the legislation has mostly come from conservative circles, the debate also fomented arguments over entry by transgender people into sex-segregated spaces.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2023
Some duped into sterilization surgery under eugenics law, parliament report says
Under a now-defunct eugenics law, 65% of sterilization procedures were carried out without consent and some were led to believe they were being treated for an illness.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces