Tag - ishin

 
 

ISHIN

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.
Ride-sharing vehicles in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, in March
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
One year in, ride-hailing in Japan has room for improvement
Japan has lagged in adopting ride-hailing services, largely due to opposition from the country's powerful taxi industry.
Sachiko Ishizuka, who was born via artificial insemination by donor (AID), tells her story to lawmakers from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on April 9.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
Privacy and transparency clash in debate over bill on artificial insemination
At stake is the thorny question of when children conceived through artificial insemination by donor can access information on their biological parents, and to what extent.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Osaka Expo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025
As Osaka Expo kicks off, Nippon Ishin continues to hold its breath
The Kansai-centered opposition party has a lot to lose if the six-month event being held in its stronghold turns out to be a flop.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera addresses a party meeting to discuss measures to cope with U.S. tariffs, held at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 13, 2025
LDP and CDP officials voice caution over tax cut
The CDP's Kazuhiko Shigetoku said that his party has only begun discussions on the consumption tax.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba raises his hand to answer a question about the U.S. tariff measures during a parliamentary committee session in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 10, 2025
Government considers fresh economic package to tackle impact of U.S. tariffs
Consensus is growing within the LDP-Komeito coalition over the need for intervention, though opinions are mixed on how to do it.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has appointed Japan's tariff negotiator, is one of his closest allies and busiest ministers.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 9, 2025
Who is Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's tariffs negotiator?
The man tasked with convincing the U.S. drop its tariffs on Japanese goods is one of the prime minister's closest allies and busiest ministers.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a news conference in Tokyo on April 1. The approval rating for Ishiba's Cabinet fell to 30.6% over the weekend, according to a JNN poll.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 7, 2025
Ishiba under pressure to take stronger stance against U.S. on tariffs
Some opposition leaders are urging the prime minister to rally his party around a strategy before speaking with the U.S. president, but others are eyeing his removal.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025
No rest for weary Ishiba as challenges await in parliament
After finally securing passage of the country's budget earlier this week, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba now faces an uphill battle to win back the public's trust.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2025
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Concerns over the stability of the LDP-Komeito minority government are fueling talk of a possible new arrangement, and maybe even a new prime minister.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin at the Diet in Tokyo on March 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2025
Parties still at odds over corporate donations as deadline for agreement looms
The prospect of reaching a decision on whether to ban, restrict or continue to accept donations by the end of the month appears slim.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025
Opposition set to step up offensive against Ishiba
Ishiba, already hurt by low public support, has found himself in a bind ahead of this summer's Upper House election as the scandal shakes his image as a "clean politician."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from left) cheers along with other members of the Liberal Democratic Party during the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 9.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025
As it turns 70, LDP struggles to find its fountain of youth
Having lost 60,000 members in 2024 amid a slush funds scandal, the party is under pressure to seek out new blood, but its old ways may be a turnoff for many.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's reversal over medical co-payments late last week and the revelation he gave gift vouchers to lawmakers have weakened his political standing.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 14, 2025
Ishiba on shaky ground over budget and gift vouchers
Recent fumbles have given Ishiba's opponents within the LDP a golden opportunity to attack him.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday. The opposition's slamming of the Liberal Democratic Party over its position on corporate and group donations, as well as their own divisions over whether to restrict or ban such contributions, cast uncertainty over Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus within the month.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2025
Opposition parties split on whether to restrict or ban corporate donations
Their division casts uncertainty over Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s hopes of reaching a consensus on the matter within the month ahead of a summer election.
Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara (left) greets Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after the budget was passed at the Lower House — with the support of the opposition party — on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025
Is Nippon Ishin the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition's friend or foe?
The party is juggling between supporting the ruling coalition in return for some of its policies being realized, and opposing them to win votes.
Yuichiro Tamaki, who has been reinstated as leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Tamaki sets sights on Upper House election after retaking DPP reins
The opposition party aims to increase its seat count in the upper chamber of parliament from 12 to 21.
The Lower House Budget Committee votes for the fiscal 2025 budget in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025
Budget clears Lower House in key win for Ishiba
The budget’s approval in the Lower House has long been seen as an indispensable requirement for the survival of the Ishiba administration.
Hirofumi Yoshimura (center left), president of Nippon Ishin no Kai, at the party's convention in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2025
Nippon Ishin vows to push ruling bloc into minority in Upper House
"I will accept any outcome and take responsibility in the end," Nippon Ishin leader Hirofumi Yoshimura said at a party convention in Tokyo.
Minoru Kishiguchi, a prefectural assembly member expelled from the Hyogo prefectural arm of Nippon Ishin no Kai (left), and Makoto Masuyama, a prefectural assembly member who received a recommendation to leave the party, at the Hyogo Prefectural Government Office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Nippon Ishin's Hyogo group expels member over probe info leak
Minoru Kishiguchi had been serving as the committee's deputy chief and head of the party's assembly group at the time.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.