Osaka Mayor Hashimoto conducts survey on municipal workers’ political beliefs

Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto Toru has conducted a compulsory survey on municipal workers’ political activities, infringing on their constitutional freedom of thought and conscience.

Focus on household consumption and small firms to spur economic upturn: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on February 10 presented an approach to end the ongoing financial crisis that entails bolstering household consumption which accounts for 60% in domestic demand as well as increased support for small- and- medium-sized businesses which account for 70% in employment.

Social security is a ‘mine of waste’: DPJ Maehara

Democratic Party of Japan Policy Chief Maehara Seiji on February 9 described social security as “a mine of waste” during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting, lambasting the country’s social security system based on the principle of Article 25 of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to live.