March 30, 2025
Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko together with a JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyperson, in a street speech campaign held on March 29 in front of Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo, talked directly with the audience.
A young aspiring manga artist shared personal concerns, saying, “I work and work, but my savings do not increase.” Tamura said that it is politicians’ responsibility to eliminate unilateral termination of non-regular work contracts or the imposition of repeated renewals of short-term contracts as well as to raise the minimum hourly wage to at least 1,500 yen. She explained the JCP proposal to divert a portion of large companies’ internal reserves to enable an increase in wages for all workers.
When asked, “What is the difference between the Communist Party of China and the JCP? How about changing the name of your party?” Tamura answered, “Threatening other countries with force and oppressing the people is neither socialism nor communism,” and criticized China. She added, “Our party has been working to end oppression and exploitation so that everyone can have sufficient free time for themselves and so that both the general populace and the society overall can grow and develop. The JCP has sought that freedom. We have continued and will continue this work without changing our name.”
When suggested that the JCP receive political party subsidies, Tamura pointed out that such subsidies, as they force people to make a mandatory donation to a specific political party, violate basic constitutional rights to freedom of thought and political beliefs. She said that the more seats a party has in the Diet, the more it can receive and then use to fund election campaigns. She stated, “In other words, that money distorts your vote. In order to abolish this system, the presence of a party that opposes this subsidy system is essential.”
To a woman who was angry at the U.S. Trump administration for doing whatever it wants, Tamura said that the U.S. stance toward Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine are both violations of the UN Charter and international law. She said, “Our party calls for global solidarity from the standpoint of human progress that the international community has been built up. This is not an era in which the world moves as President Trump wants.”
A young aspiring manga artist shared personal concerns, saying, “I work and work, but my savings do not increase.” Tamura said that it is politicians’ responsibility to eliminate unilateral termination of non-regular work contracts or the imposition of repeated renewals of short-term contracts as well as to raise the minimum hourly wage to at least 1,500 yen. She explained the JCP proposal to divert a portion of large companies’ internal reserves to enable an increase in wages for all workers.
When asked, “What is the difference between the Communist Party of China and the JCP? How about changing the name of your party?” Tamura answered, “Threatening other countries with force and oppressing the people is neither socialism nor communism,” and criticized China. She added, “Our party has been working to end oppression and exploitation so that everyone can have sufficient free time for themselves and so that both the general populace and the society overall can grow and develop. The JCP has sought that freedom. We have continued and will continue this work without changing our name.”
When suggested that the JCP receive political party subsidies, Tamura pointed out that such subsidies, as they force people to make a mandatory donation to a specific political party, violate basic constitutional rights to freedom of thought and political beliefs. She said that the more seats a party has in the Diet, the more it can receive and then use to fund election campaigns. She stated, “In other words, that money distorts your vote. In order to abolish this system, the presence of a party that opposes this subsidy system is essential.”
To a woman who was angry at the U.S. Trump administration for doing whatever it wants, Tamura said that the U.S. stance toward Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine are both violations of the UN Charter and international law. She said, “Our party calls for global solidarity from the standpoint of human progress that the international community has been built up. This is not an era in which the world moves as President Trump wants.”
