Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2008 November 12 - 18 [JCP]

600 bid farewell to late former JCP Vice Chair Ueda Koichiro

A public gathering was held in Tokyo on November 17 to bid farewell to the late Ueda Koichiro, former Japanese Communist Party vice chair, who died on October 30.

About 600 people, including Dietmembers of other parties, mass communication media, trade unions, and democratic organizations, turned out for Ueda.

Cuban Ambassador Jose Fernandez de Cossio and the Vietnamese Embassy’s Minister Nguyen Minh Ha also attended the gathering.

House of Councilors President Eda Satsuki read a message of condolence.

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Hatoyama Yukio, Komei Party Vice-representative Higashi Junji, Social Democratic Party House of Councilors members’ group leader Fuchigami Sadao, and Kaikaku Club Secretary General Arai Hiroyuki offered floral tributes.

JCP Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo, former Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo who is Ueda's younger brother, and other 6 persons gave eulogy speeches for Ueda.

Shii referred to Ueda's theoretical and policy-making activities, including the report on the "Proposal of the JCP Concerning the Program of a Democratic Coalition Government" at the JCP 12th Congress in 1973, as well as his 24 years as a Dietmember, during which he exposed many cases of political corruption involving plutocracy.

He also recalled that Ueda put his heart and soul into the struggle against an adverse revision of the Constitution and the activity as the chair of the Party Headquarters Building Construction Commission.

Ido Osamu, head of a JCP branch of Ueda's residential area in Kunitachi City, said that Ueda amiably attended local party supporters' activities, drinking together with them and encouraging them.

Fuwa recalled that he grew up by following his older brother in reading and thinking about political issues. Fuwa and Ueda worked together for the JCP Policy Commission for seven years in the 1960s. "In those seven years we endured many hardships and developed our theories and policies. This is the most impressive page of our history," Fuwa said.

Messages of condolence from House of Representatives Speaker Kono Yohei, former Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro, DPJ President Ozawa Ichiro, and others were read.