Japan Press Weekly

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2011 September 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

Ichida calls for economic reform by boosting domestic demand

On September 16 during his interpellation in the House of Councilors, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi urged Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko to turn the Japanese economy into one led by domestic demand.

As counter measures against the ongoing appreciation of the yen, the Noda Cabinet has decided to provide financial support for Japanese companies to locate their offices or to acquire foreign companies.

Criticizing the measures as “inappropriate,” Ichida pointed out that every time the yen becomes strong, export companies try to reduce costs by dismissing workers, lowering their salaries, and cutting unit prices for subcontractors in order to expand their exports. Such practices in turn create another wave of yen appreciation, he added.

In order to get away from this negative cycle, domestic demand must be stimulated, Ichida stressed. He proposed ways to redirect the wealth produced by corporate activities within the country, including implementing a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law in order to create more fulltime jobs, increasing the minimum hourly wage, eradicating long hours of work and excessive workloads, and preventing subcontractor bullying.

While stating the need to “create stable domestic and foreign demand without excessive dependence on foreign demand,” Prime Minister Noda in response only called for support for major companies.

Concerning post-disaster reconstruction, Ichida stated that what the government should do urgently is to help disaster victims secure housing, jobs, and stable income. Calling for financial assistance to be directly given to disaster-hit businesses and shops, he also criticized the fact that the government so far has not provided any money to support the fishery industry.

The JCP representative demanded that the prime minister pledge to create a Japan without nuclear power plants within a specified timeframe and develop alternative energy sources on a large scale.

Noda responded to Ichida by saying that he aims to reduce dependence on nuclear energy as much as possible in the long term.