Japan Press Weekly

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2015 May 27 - June 2 [POLITICS]

JCP urges government to use tax money for better judicial services rather than for Osprey purchase

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Nihi Sohei at a House Judicial Affairs Committee meeting on May 14 criticized the government for keeping its spending on the judiciary low since the 1980s and demanded a drastic increase.

In this fiscal year, the tax money allocated to the judiciary is only 300 billion yen, 0.3% of the state budget and lower than the 360 billion yen budget for purchasing 17 Ospreys.

Calling for easy public access to the court system, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and a nationwide union of judiciary employees have made constant efforts to have the government increase the judicial budget and the number of judges and court workers.

The JFBA on May 15 held talks with the JCP and asked the party for its cooperation. JCP Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki cited the JCP’s 2014 general election promise which coincides with what the JFBA seeks and stated that the JCP will work hard to achieve this goal.

The union, affiliated with the Japan Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), has staged a signature collection campaign with the aim to boost public support for its demand for more public funding in order to provide better judicial services. The union on May 28 handed collected signatures to Nihi and JCP Lower House member Shimizu Tadashi.

About two weeks before receiving the signatures, Shimizu at a Lower House Committee meeting took up the government’s request to every ministry to reduce their personnel by 10% over five years. He demanded that the Supreme Court protest such a request in order to ensure access to the justice system and secure judicial independence.