Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 March 6 - 12 [ECONOMY]

Joining TPP runs counter to gov’t plan to increase self-sufficiency rate: JCP Yamashita

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Yamashita Yoshiki in his question-answer time at the House of Councilors plenary session on March 6 grilled Prime Minister Abe about his plan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade pact and U.S. Ospreys’ low-altitude flight training.

Yamashita stressed that if Japan enters into the TPP framework and all tariffs are removed, Japanese agriculture will receive a devastating blow because it will be put into a severe competition with countries such as the U.S. and Australia where the size of farms is 100 to 1,500 times larger, respectively, than farms in Japan.

The JCP representative pointed out that the prime minister on February 28 in his policy speech announced that the government plans to increase Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate to 50%, and that 90% of the general public wish to buy farm produce grown in Japan.

The prime minister’s intention to participate in the TPP is tantamount to turning his back to the public demand for an increase in the self-sufficient rate, Yamashita added.

He moved on to the issue that the U.S. military has started low-altitude flight training of its Osprey aircraft on mainland Japan. Citing the outrageous flight exercises conducted by Ospreys in Okinawa, Yamashita said that to continue to jeopardize people’s lives and safety is unacceptable. He urged the government to have the U.S. forces in Japan end Ospreys’ low-altitude training exercises and withdraw the aircraft from Japan.

Yamashita took up the issue related to the so-called “black corporations” in which young employees, who just finished their probationary training period, are driven to compete with each other and many are forced to give up their jobs due to severe mental health problems.

Pointing out that the use of young workers in this manner is increasing in major corporations, he called on the government to look into the situation.

Prime Minister Abe proclaimed that the government will conduct an investigation and take appropriate measures if it finds serious violations of labor laws.