Japan Press Weekly

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2012 April 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

Censure motions against 2 ministers adopted

The Upper House on April 20 adopted censure motions against the defense minister and the land minister at its plenary session by majority vote, including the votes of representatives of the Japanese Communist Party.

Six ministers have already been censured under the Democratic Party-led government, 4 under the Noda Cabinet alone.

Defense Minister Tanaka Naoki is faced with the censure motion against him over his qualification to serve as defense minister, and Land and Transport Minster Maeda Takeshi was under fire for his possible violation of the Public Office Election Act.

The two ministers expressed their intention to keep their posts. Prime Minster Noda Yoshihiko also said that he will keep them in his Cabinet.

However, the largest opposition party (LDP) said that it will boycott Diet deliberations unless the two ministers step down and are replaced.

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Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a press conference on the same day stated, “The JCP approved the motions for censure.”

He pointed out that Tanaka is neither qualified nor capable of being defense minister because he “is moving forward to permanently hosting U.S. military bases in Japan and accepting another U.S. base to be constructed in Okinawa’s Nago City.”

As for Maeda, Ichida said, “He has decided to go ahead with the resumption of the Yamba Dam construction project by breaking his party’s promise to cancel the project. He also allegedly violated the public election law by taking advantage of his position as cabinet minister.”

Ichida added that Prime Minster Noda should be held responsible for having appointed them as ministers.

Asked by the press for the JCP position in Diet deliberations, he said, “The JCP does no condone the LDP boycotting behavior. The Diet is a venue for discussion, so our party will continue to present our arguments in order to give voice to public demand.”