Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 5 - 11 [POLITICS]

Osaka City mayor holds open debate on policies of his new party

The Nippon Restoration Association (Nippon Ishin-no-Kai), which will be registered as an official political party led by Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto Toru, held an open forum on September 9 in Osaka. All the panelists offered remarks cozying up to Hashimoto during the 5.5-hour debate.

Hashimoto expects seven Dietmembers and other public figures to join his new party. Lured by his assertion that the event would be an opportunity to determine if they share common values with the “Ishin-no-Kai”, 415 reporters from 101 media corporations rushed to cover the forum.

Some criticized widely-used school textbooks as “distorting issues of the Self-Defense Forces and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty”; some claimed that Japan “still has too many family farmers and there is no need to provide income support for them”; and some considered the free-choice school system as “the right path” in education reform, which Hashimoto is promoting to push the free market mechanism into education.

The opinions presented there were all in support of an eight-point campaign platform, the so-called “Ishin Hassaku” released by the “Ishin-no-Kai”.

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Hashimoto’s new party to accept campaign funds from corporations

Hashimoto Toru on September 10 indicated his intention to accept political donations from corporations as campaign funds of the “Ishin-no-Kai” in preparation for the general election.

His party’s 8-point platform (Ishin Hassaku), however, calls for a ban on political donations from corporations and organizations.