Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

JCP proposal for ‘national coalition government’ attracts much media attention

The Japanese Communist Party’s proposal for a “national coalition government” in order to repeal the war legislation and restore constitutionalism has attracted much media attention.

For example, the Mainichi Shimbun in its evening edition on October 5 and 15 ran articles featuring the JCP proposal. In the October 15 issue, the major daily stated that the party’s call for creating a “national coalition government” rocked the whole political world and carried a long interview with JCP Chair Shii Kazuo.

In the Tokyo Shimbun published on September 27, Hosei University Professor Yamaguchi Jiro in his weekly column took up the JCP initiative. Yamaguchi stated that the most pressing need of the current Japanese society is to revoke the unconstitutional war legislation and put a halt to the high-handed moves by the Abe government.

Journalist Abe Hiroshi, who worked for Nikkei Shimbun, pointed out that protest rallies against the war legislation were held more than 30 times in front of the Diet building. He added that 37% of the respondents in a Japan News Network opinion poll (October 5) expressed high expectations for the JCP proposal and that 38% of the respondents in a Mainichi poll (October 9) said opposition parties should engage in electoral cooperation. He stressed that news media cannot fulfil their roles without listening to these mounting voices from the public.

Maruyama Shigetake, who was the vice chief editor of Kyodo News, noted that through struggles against the war legislation, the general public renewed its appreciation of the pacifist Constitution and of the fact that Japan has not waged war for 70 years. He went on to say that under such a situation, people have high expectations for the JCP proposal which seeks to change the government through electoral cooperation among opposition parties and determine the future course by a step-by-step approach through thorough public discussions.

Maruyama mentioned that the emphasis placed by public movements to protect democracy, constitutionalism and pacifism in Japan is significant. He said, “Maybe we will be able to witness a scene where the Japanese people establish a democratic government reflecting people’s demands for the first time in Japan’s history.”