Japan Press Weekly

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2014 December 3 - 9 [POLITICS]

Other party leaders’ speech far from what ordinary people feel

After the proclamation of a general election for the House of Representatives, leaders of political parties on December 2 kicked off their campaigns. Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii spoke of his determination to face off against the Abe government. What about the other parties?

LDP

Liberal Democratic Party President Abe Shinzo delivered his first campaign speech in Fukushima Prefecture and boasted about the “achievements” of his economic policies, which most people have yet to experience.

Despite the fact that real wages decreased for 16 consecutive months, Abe argued that wages and employment opportunities have increased. While saying that the way to boost the economy is the point at issue in this general election, Abe merely repeated that if corporations make more profits, they will contribute to creating more jobs and raising workers’ income, and that this will lead to the recovery of economy.

Although 120,000 Fukushima nuclear victims still cannot return to their homes, Abe insisted that the government project to reconstruct houses and businesses is making steady progress in Fukushima.

Komei

Yamaguchi Natsuo, representative of the Komei Party, held a street speech in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Regarding the plan to raise the consumption tax rate to 10%, he expressed his intention to introduce a reduced tax rate on daily necessities but supported the tax increase itself.

DPJ

Democratic Party of Japan head Kaieda Banri started his speech campaign also in Fukushima. While criticizing Abenomics as ineffective, he avoided mentioning that the consumption tax increase in April, which triggered a serious economic downturn, was decided when the DPJ was in power two years ago.

Kaieda condemned the Abe government for seeking to restart nuclear power plants. However, Kaieda promoted nuclear energy when he was the economy minister in the DPJ government.

Japan Innovation Party (JIP)

Co-leaders of the JIP in their speeches clearly showed the party’s role in supporting the Abe administration.

JIP co-head Eda Kenji made his first speech in Yokohama City. He stressed that his support for the contents of Abenomics are what he included in the platform when he formed the Your Party.

Hashimoto Toru, another co-head, delivered a speech in Osaka City. He underscored the need to slash the number of parliamentarians and their salaries, but said nothing about the system of state subsidies to political parties. He expressed his intention to agree to a heavier tax burden on the general public with some reservations.