A Look at the Japanese Diet’s Political Ethics Councils

Both chambers of the Japanese Diet have Deliberative Councils on Political Ethics in place. There are 25 members in the lower House of Representatives, and 15 in the upper House of Councillors, selected from both ruling and opposition parties. Since the establishment of this system in 1985, the councils have been called into action 10 times to formally investigate possible breaches of ethics by Diet members. The first nine instances saw the lower house council convened; on February 27, 2024, the upper house council gathered for the first time to ask 32 current and former LDP members in the chamber to testify on their potential involvement in their party’s unfolding fundraising scandal. Agreement has been reached on convening the lower house deliberative council as well, in connection with the same scandal, on February 29 and March 1.

The purposes of these councils is to establish ethical standards for Diet members and deliberate whether they have breached the code of conduct for legislators or fallen afoul of other laws or regulations. The bodies can issue warnings and recommend measures like temporary bans on a legislator’s presence in the chamber, but they have no formally defined powers to punish Diet members.

The deliberative councils can be convened based on a request by a Diet member at the center of an issue, or when called up by a resolution passed by members of the house. Unlike other procedures in the Diet that can see people charged for lying or failing to appear, these bodies have no power to compel participation by those they investigate, and there are no penalties for perjury.

Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryūtarō in April 1998. (© Jiji)

Notably, in 2004, former Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryūtarō appeared before the lower house ethics council in connection with an unreported ¥100 million donation to the LDP faction he led from the Japan Dental Federation; he was thought to have agreed to this to assuage public opinion and dodge opposition demands that he appear under oath before the Diet, potentially exposing himself to perjury or other charges.

In principle, meetings of the councils are closed to outside observers, but if those under investigation approve, their proceedings can be partially opened to other members of the Diet, to the print media, or to television cameras in fully open meetings.

Below is a list of the council deliberations held to date, as of February 28, 2024. 

Deliberative Council on Political Ethics Deliberations

• September 25, 1996
  Katō Kōichi (LDP, lower house), in connection with suspicion of receiving unreported donations. Closed session.
• June 5, 1998
  Yamasaki Taku (LDP, lower house), in connection with concealed donations. Session open to lower house members.
• February 26, 2001
  Nukaga Fukushirō (LDP, lower house), in connection with concealed donations. Session open to lower house members.
• July 24, 2002
  Tanaka Makiko (unaffiliated, lower house), in connection with misappropriation of political secretary salaries. Open session.
• May 21, 2003
  Matsunami Kenshirō (New Conservative Party, lower house), in connection with suspected ties to organized crime groups. Open session.
• May 31, 2004
  Harada Yoshiaki (LDP, lower house), in connection with falsified records of his study abroad. Open session.
• November 30, 2004
  Hashimoto Ryūtarō (LDP, lower house), in connection with unreported donations. Session open to lower house members.
• February 23, 2006
  Itō Kōsuke (LDP, lower house), in connection with falsified architectural earthquake-resistance documentation. Open session.
• July 17, 2009
  Hatoyama Yukio (Democratic Party of Japan, lower house), in connection with falsified political donation records. Open session; Hatoyama chose not to appear before the council.
• February 27, 2024
  Thirty-two current and former LDP members (upper house), in connection with underreported political donations. Deliberations are ongoing and may take place in the lower house’s ethics council as well.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s Terata Manabu, at top left, and the Japanese Communist Party’s Kokuta Keiji, at far right, meet with other opposition officials on February 27, 2024, to discuss House of Councillors Deliberative Council on Political Ethics procedures. © Jiji.)