Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2021 December 15 - 21 [JCP]

JCP supporters hold exchange meeting

Japanese Communist Party supporters held an exchange meeting on December 19 in Tokyo with the participation of JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira.

Koike extended his greetings to participants and said that the JCP could not effectively overcome the anticommunist attacks in the general election late October which resulted in the decrease in the number of JCP seats held.

He introduced the voices from JCP supporters directed at the JCP after the election such as, "Your handling of the media and measures to fight back against anticommunist attacks were insufficient," and "Your vision for a future society seemed a little vague for many voters." Koike asked them for suggestions to strengthen the image of the JCP.

Many supporters said they want to do something to help the JCP make an advance but they do not know what they can do.

A participant from Kanagawa Prefecture said they created a website with the days, locations, time, and content of their activities listed for volunteer campaigners. Anyone who visited the site and thought it accessible came to join in the activities and effectively used her/his time. A participant from Aichi Prefecture said they established a supporters' office so that visitors were able to help JCP members deliver JCP leaflets in understaffed areas or help them make phone calls to potential voters to ask for support for the JCP.

A man in his 30s living in Tokyo who took part in a campaign activity for the first time in his life said, "I always wonder what I can do to get people become interested in politics." A woman in her 40s living in Saitama Prefecture said, "I used to have the impression that the JCP is hard to approach, but all the JCP members I met warmly welcomed my participation in their campaign activities."