March 21, 2025

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kira Yoshiko on March 16 took part as a panelist in a panel discussion held during an event called “Democracy Youth Festival 2025” hosted by the Japan Youth Conference.

At the panel discussion themed on the propriety of Japan’s election rules prohibiting minors from engaging in election campaigning, Kira said that in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to express their views on politics as well as on elections, adding that what politicians should do is to ensure children are allowed to make use of that right. She made this comment in response to a high school student who said that anyone, even children under 18 years old, should have the freedom to participate in campaigning.

The “Democracy Youth Festival 2025” which aims to promote youth democratic participation took place on March 15 and 16 in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. At the event venue, the JCP and ten other political organizations established their booths modeled on a “valstuga (election campaign cabin)”. The “valstuga” is common in Nordic countries and is placed by political parties in public locations in the run up to an election. Furthermore, youth groups and civil organizations working on social issues such as climate change set up their booths.

At the JCP-set “valstuga”, during the two-day festival, the party offered various programs including a talk with Kira.

In the talk program, Kira said that in solidarity with the students’ struggles, the JCP is working hard in the Diet to block further tuition hikes and that pushed by patients’ action and opposition parties’ Diet efforts, the government has “frozen” its plan to increase patient’s share in high-cost medical expenses. She said, “People’s movements to oppose the government’s anti-people policies give us energy.”