March 29, 2015
Akahata Sunday edition
Mie Prefecture provides an example of how important a Japanese Communist Party seat is. With the JCP defeat in an election four years ago, the Mie prefectural assembly restored the system of tax-funded overseas trips or “inspection tours” made by its assemblypersons.
During the Mie prefectural assembly election campaign in 2007, JCP candidates exposed the assemblypersons custom of making luxurious trips abroad by using tax money of 1.2 million yen per person. In this election, the JCP secured two seats. The newly elected JCP assembly members lost no time in proposing abolishing unnecessary overseas visits. To this fair-enough point, no one in the assembly could stand in opposition. The assembly finally decided to abolish the overseas inspection tour system.
However, in the 2011 election, the JCP lost its seats. Soon, the assembly with no JCP presence allowed the resurgence of overseas visits at the expense of “political activities funds”.
Over the past four years, 122 assemblypersons in total went on 21 trips abroad. Six members of a group affiliated with the Democratic Party of Japan in March 2012 went on an inspection trip to Australia, costing 5.27 million yen in total. After the inspection, they submitted only two sheets of paper outlining their itinerary, ignoring to submit a detailed report on their trip. The DPJ group made another trip in April 2013. Spending 5.81 million yen on their visit to the United States and Canada, they enjoyed a tour to Niagara Falls and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The report on this trip was later found to be half copied from Wikipedia.
A man of the Mie citizens’ ombudsperson said with a sigh, “These are sightseeing trips rather than inspections. They can do whatever they want because of the absence of JCP seats in the assembly.”
Currently, they show no sign of stopping using political activities funds which are also taxpayer money for their overseas inspection trips. Meanwhile, they are cold to Mie residents. More than 10,000 people signed a petition requesting that children, single-parent families, and persons with disabilities be exempted from payments of medical bills at hospitals. However, all the assemblypersons refused to present the petition to assembly sessions.
A woman who signed the petition said, “I question their common sense. None of them accepted the 10,000 people’s demand. I strongly feel we need the JCP presence in the assembly.”
Past related articles:
> JCP presence on an Okinawa village assembly brings about change [March 21, 2015]
> Assembly with no JCP seat allows assemblypersons to go on travelling sprees [April 29, 2014]
Mie Prefecture provides an example of how important a Japanese Communist Party seat is. With the JCP defeat in an election four years ago, the Mie prefectural assembly restored the system of tax-funded overseas trips or “inspection tours” made by its assemblypersons.
During the Mie prefectural assembly election campaign in 2007, JCP candidates exposed the assemblypersons custom of making luxurious trips abroad by using tax money of 1.2 million yen per person. In this election, the JCP secured two seats. The newly elected JCP assembly members lost no time in proposing abolishing unnecessary overseas visits. To this fair-enough point, no one in the assembly could stand in opposition. The assembly finally decided to abolish the overseas inspection tour system.
However, in the 2011 election, the JCP lost its seats. Soon, the assembly with no JCP presence allowed the resurgence of overseas visits at the expense of “political activities funds”.
Over the past four years, 122 assemblypersons in total went on 21 trips abroad. Six members of a group affiliated with the Democratic Party of Japan in March 2012 went on an inspection trip to Australia, costing 5.27 million yen in total. After the inspection, they submitted only two sheets of paper outlining their itinerary, ignoring to submit a detailed report on their trip. The DPJ group made another trip in April 2013. Spending 5.81 million yen on their visit to the United States and Canada, they enjoyed a tour to Niagara Falls and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The report on this trip was later found to be half copied from Wikipedia.
A man of the Mie citizens’ ombudsperson said with a sigh, “These are sightseeing trips rather than inspections. They can do whatever they want because of the absence of JCP seats in the assembly.”
Currently, they show no sign of stopping using political activities funds which are also taxpayer money for their overseas inspection trips. Meanwhile, they are cold to Mie residents. More than 10,000 people signed a petition requesting that children, single-parent families, and persons with disabilities be exempted from payments of medical bills at hospitals. However, all the assemblypersons refused to present the petition to assembly sessions.
A woman who signed the petition said, “I question their common sense. None of them accepted the 10,000 people’s demand. I strongly feel we need the JCP presence in the assembly.”
Past related articles:
> JCP presence on an Okinawa village assembly brings about change [March 21, 2015]
> Assembly with no JCP seat allows assemblypersons to go on travelling sprees [April 29, 2014]
