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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP Hatano runs for Upper House by-election in Kanagawa

In Kanagawa Prefecture, three women candidates are contesting a seat in the House of Councilors by-election proclaimed on October 6. Japanese Communist Party candidate Hatano Kimie, former Upper House member, is competing against Kawaguchi Yoriko, former foreign minister supported by the Liberal Democratic Party, and Makiyama Hiroe, a U.S. lawyer supported by the Democratic Party of Japan.

In her first campaign speech, JCP Hatano called on voters to stop the "reckless politics" of the LDP-Komei coalition government, which is pushing ahead with a massive tax increase on salaried workers and reinforcement of U.S. military bases in Japan.

Hatano is criticizing the LDP and DPJ for promoting a "two-party" system and competing for undemocratic policies. Hatano is calling for the school class size to be reduced to under 30 pupils, the elimination of unpaid overtime work, and the defense of war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, there are 17 U.S. bases (the second largest number in Japan after Okinawa) and many residents are adversely affected by the ongoing U.S. "military transformation." If Yokosuka becomes homeport to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers instead of conventional ones, and the U.S. Army I Corps command is relocated to U.S. Camp Zama, the prefecture will be turned into the "headquarters for dispatching U.S. forces to interventionist wars anywhere in the world."

LDP candidate Kawaguchi served as foreign minister under the Koizumi Cabinet that sent the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and strengthened the role of U.S. bases in Japan.

In her speech in the July 2003 Upper House session in support of a bill to reprimand Kawaguchi in relation to the Law Concerning the Special Measures on Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance in Iraq, Hatano said that Kawaguchi, who uncritically followed U.S. directions in violation of Article 9, cannot be qualified to manage Japan's diplomacy.

In order to block the relocation to Camp Zama of the U.S. army corps headquarters, Hatano has held talks with mayors and residents in Zama, Sagamihara, and other cities in the area. The mayor of Zushi, where residents are firmly opposed to the construction of housing complexes for U.S. military personnel, has commended Hatano for her anti-U.S. base initiatives.

On this issue, new DPJ leader Maehara Seiji turns his back on mayors' and residents' efforts against the relocation plan, saying, "Placing too much emphasis on the issue of U.S. bases individually is tantamount to not seeing the broader picture" (January 30 issue of Kanagawa Shimbun).

On October 23, seven million voters will go to the polls. This election was called to fill the vacancy left by a DPJ member who ran for the Lower House general election in September. -- Akahata, October 6, 2005