- consumption tax
- Abe’s Agenda on Three FrontsKitaoka Shin’ichi
-
In order to deal with the difficult issues Japan faces domestically and internationally, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō will need to display leadership and promote realistic policies without getting tied up in ideology.
(More)
- Election 2012: The People’s Verdict, Abe’s AgendaShiraishi Takashi
-
On December 16 Japan held a general election for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet. As had been expected, the Liberal Democratic Party, which lost power three years ago, emerged victorious this time. The LDP achieved a sweeping victory, taking 294 of the 480 seats in the chamber. Adding the 31 seats won by the New Kōmeitō, its long-time ally, gives a total of 325, …
(More)
- Why Noda Decided to Call an ElectionTakenaka Harukata
-
On November 16 Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko dissolved the House of Representatives; a general election will be held on December 16. Many readers may wonder why he took that step at this time. After all, public support for Noda’s cabinet and his Democratic Party of Japan is languishing at a very low level. Opinion polls conducted by the major newspapers shortly before the announcement show that th…
(More)
- Global Japan: 2050 Simulations and StrategiesTango Yasutake
-
In April 2012, Keidanren’s 21st Century Public Policy Institute released a report with detailed simulations of the Japanese and global economies leading up to 2050. Tango Yasutake introduces some of the report’s key points.
(More)
- Consumption Tax Bill Repercussions Have Just BegunGotō Kenji
-
As we all know, the last phase of deliberations over the consumption tax bill took place on August 8, at a meeting between Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko of the Democratic Party of Japan and Tanigaki Sadakazu, leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party.(*1) It was then that Noda promised Tanigaki that he would dissolve the lower house and call a general election “soon,” persuading Tanigaki t…
(More)
- Gearing Up for the General ElectionMasuzoe Yōichi
-
Setting aside their political differences, the Liberal Democratic Party, the New Kōmeitō Party, and the Democratic Party of Japan joined together to pass a bill in the Diet for a comprehensive reform of the taxation and social security systems. Leading up to this, Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko promised LDP President Tanigaki Sadakazu(*1) that he would dissolve the Diet to hold a snap general ele…
(More)
- The Political History of the Consumption Tax
-
In August 2012, the plenary session of Japan’s upper house approved a bill containing a consumption tax hike and other measures. Fierce debate and much political wrangling have surrounded the issue of increasing the consumption tax over the years. The following traces this history.
(More)
- The Political Significance of Noda’s Consumption Tax HikeTakenaka Harukata
-
The package of bills that will raise the consumption tax was passed by the House of Representatives at the end of June. Political parties that had opposed each other came together to pass the bills. Political scientist Takenaka Harukata discusses some of the reasons for this sequence of events.
(More)
- Ozawa Becomes History, While Noda Makes ItTaniguchi Tomohiko
-
Just over a month ago a weekly magazine carried a story reporting scandals involving Ozawa Ichirō. A letter said to have been written by Ozawa’s wife revealed two bombshells: One was that he had fathered a child out of wedlock and had made his lover raise this child. The second was a serious revelation relating to his qualifications as a politician, namely, that in the wake of the Great East Japan…
(More)
- Why Japanese Politics Is at a StandstillTakenaka Harukata
-
In recent years, the problem of a “divided government,” in which the ruling party or coalition lacks a sufficient majority in either chamber of the Diet to get laws passed, has brought antagonism between the main parties to boiling point and paralyzed the political process. One of the main reasons for this sorry state of affairs is the role played in the Japanese political system by the House of Councillors. Professor Takenaka Harutaka provides the background.
(More)
