People with intellectual disabilities create election dictionary
With Sunday's election for the House of Councilors — the upper chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament — drawing closer, in-person and online study sessions have been held using the dictionary.
The 236-page "Senkyo no Kotoba" (terms of election) dictionary contains about 170 election-related terms, such as "the right to vote," "candidate" and "democracy," and the voting procedure is explained in hiragana letters in principle.
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The Mainichi
3 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Actor LaSalle Ishii helps save SDP in Japan election, vows to fight for peace and equality
TOKYO -- Facing the threat of losing its official party status in the July 20 House of Councillors election, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was rescued from the brink by actor LaSalle Ishii, 69, who ran in the proportional representation race and won his first seat. The SDP barely cleared the 2% vote threshold required for party status, at 2.06%. Of the more than 1.21 million votes the party received in the proportional race, over 200,000 were cast for Ishii personally. As a new upper house lawmaker, he says he wants to tackle issues such as the U.S. military base problem in Okinawa and making scholarships -- which in Japan are often akin to low-intertest loans -- truly free. "I decided to stop giving up. I decided to stop just watching in silence. I decided to make politics my work." Ishii declared this in a hoarse voice at a street rally in Tokyo's Ueno area on July 13, standing alongside SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima. During the campaign, he traveled from Kagoshima in Japan's southwest to Hokkaido in the north, giving speeches across the country. Ishii rose to fame in the 1980s as a member of the comedy group Konto Akashingo with Masayuki Watanabe and others, during the "manzai" comedy boom. He is also well known as the voice of Kankichi Ryotsu, the main character in the anime adaptation of the popular manga "Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo" ("Kochikame"). Since 2020, Ishii has written a column for the evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai called "Tofunseisho" (which ended in June), where he discussed issues such as inequality and poverty and criticized the government. As his political statements became more prominent, he faced a backlash, including being told "celebrities shouldn't talk politics" and seeing a noticeable drop in his TV bookings. Ishii says the SDP had been approaching him about running for office for about a decade, but he had hesitated due to his acting career. This time, with the party's status at stake before the election, he felt strongly that "the SDP, which stubbornly stands for peace and against poverty, must survive," and decided to run. Under the Public Offices Election Act, a party must have at least five Diet members or win at least 2% of the vote in the most recent national election to maintain official status. Without party status, the SDP would lose privileges such as running dual candidates in single-member and proportional districts and broadcasting campaign messages in single-member districts. With only three Diet members, the SDP set a 2% vote share as its goal. At a street rally, Ishii explained to voters why he decided to run, saying, "I thought it would be interesting to take on the job of protecting the SDP's party status." A 'centrist' at heart Ishii says his commitment to peace is strong. He was influenced by the works of legendary manga artist Osamu Tezuka, which he loved as a child. "Some people dismiss Tezuka's manga as fake humanism, but I learned the importance of people loving and coexisting with each other," Ishii said. On social media, he is sometimes derided as a "payoku" (a derogatory term for liberals), but he says, "I'm from the anti-establishment folk generation. Of course, I speak out for peace, and I consider myself a centrist." He also sympathized with the political stances of the Japanese Communist Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi, but says the SDP was the first to approach him, and the personality of party leader Fukushima was decisive. "She doesn't just go along with the crowd, and in a good way. I was drawn to her unwavering stance on peace." 'No such thing as first or second among human beings' During the campaign, there was a surge in rhetoric calling for stricter regulations on and discriminatory remarks about foreigners, such as that they are being given unfair favorable treatment. In Sapporo, a woman of Korean descent in her 20s told Ishii, "We're so used to discrimination that it doesn't even faze us anymore." Ishii said he was shocked and saddened, adding, "There's no way this kind of society is acceptable." He warned that when society feels stifling, people are drawn to things that shine with energy, and he is wary of rising xenophobia. He also directly challenged the surging right-wing populist party Sanseito. "What does 'Japanese First' even mean? There's no such thing as first or second among human beings," he said, referring to Sanseito's election slogan. Looking ahead to his first day in the Diet on Aug. 1, Ishii told the Mainichi Shimbun that the SDP's role is to block constitutional revision. "I don't think the SDP's message is reaching a huge number of people, but even if it's not flashy, I want to steadily talk about the ideals of peace. Important ideals are neither old nor new," he said. (Japanese original by Tohru Shirakawa, Tokyo Bureau)
NHK
5 hours ago
- NHK
Rift deepens within Japan's ruling LDP as Ishiba stays as PM
A division within Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is deepening as its leader and Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru reiterated his intention to remain in office. The party suffered a bitter defeat in the recent Upper House election. The LDP held a meeting of lawmakers from both houses of the Diet on Monday, following the loss in the election earlier this month. Discussions continued for four and a half hours, even though the meeting was originally scheduled to last two hours. Ishiba said at the meeting that he would do his utmost to see that the agreement reached in tariff negotiations with the United States gets implemented without fail. He said he should watch over future agricultural policies, social security and tax systems, and he wants to fulfill his responsibility to the state and the Japanese people and avoid creating a political vacuum. LDP Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi expressed readiness to clarify his responsibility for the election results when a report analyzing them is drawn up. More than 60 out of about 240 participants commented during the meeting. Some showed support for Ishiba staying in power, but others disputed it. One said Ishiba's intention goes against the opinion shown by voters in the election and creates a political vacuum, and is calling on him to step down after the party finishes its election analysis. Others called for a snap party presidential election. After the meeting, Ishiba said he will make a proper decision based on various opinions, but reiterated his intention to remain in office, saying that he would fulfill responsibilities that should be fulfilled. Meanwhile, the party leadership plans to convene a meeting of executives on Tuesday to favorably discuss holding the LDP Joint Plenary Meeting, for which mainly mid-ranking and young lawmakers are petitioning. The gathering is the party's decision-making meeting, and those who want Ishiba to resign are trying to step up pressure on him by holding it.
Nikkei Asia
12 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Japan PM Ishiba vows to stay on, seeks support at ruling party meeting
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday reiterated his intention to stay on as he sought support from party lawmakers, many of whom have been urging him to resign after a recent crushing election loss. At the Liberal Democratic Party's first meeting of lawmakers for both houses since the July 20 House of Councilors election, Ishiba apologized for the dismal outcome but warned of potential political paralysis in his latest attempt to justify his decision to remain in the job. "It's my intention to fulfill my responsibility for the people and the country by never creating a political vacuum," said Ishiba, who is LDP chief. He added that he will make "maximum efforts" to make sure that voters can feel that the LDP has changed following the election loss, in which the ruling coalition missed its target of retaining at least an overall majority in the upper house. LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, the party's No. 2, said he will finalize his decision on whether to stay on or not after completing by the end of August an internal review of why the LDP suffered its worst election showing in years. Despite Ishiba's renewed push for support from fellow LDP members, his resignation is seen as increasingly inevitable sooner or later. The LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, have already lost their majority in the more powerful House of Representatives after last year's election, meaning that opposition support is required to pass bills and budgets. Ishiba, who became LDP chief and prime minister last year, has said it is important that he remains in office to navigate the country through what he has described as a "national crisis," citing rapidly changing political situations such as U.S. tariffs. But pressure from within the LDP to step down has shown little sign of easing, with some party lawmakers distancing themselves from Ishiba while there is also discontent in some local chapters. Monday's meeting was held on the last day of the six-year terms of half of the upper house's 248 members. Depending on how Ishiba handles the meeting, calls for his resignation could grow. Some party members have signed documents to demand the LDP hold a decision-making plenary meeting of lawmakers from both houses to demand a leadership election at an early date. Signatures from a third of party lawmakers are required to demand such a gathering. Those joining the move are LDP members who stood behind the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, who was gunned down during a campaign speech in 2022. Lawmakers with close ties with heavyweights such as former Prime Minister Taro Aso and former Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who competed against Ishiba in the LDP presidential race last year, are also among the group. Potential candidates to replace him have been on the move in recent days. Former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, Ishiba's archrival, who ran unsuccessfully against him for the top party post, has held talks with people close to her as well as her supporter Aso. In the latest upper house election, emerging forces including the right-wing populist party Sanseito are believed to have siphoned conservative support from the LDP. With the rising cost of living and lackluster wage growth in real terms continuing to hurt households, the ruling coalition sought to woo voters with a promise of cash handouts while opposition parties called for reducing or abolishing the consumption tax. With the LDP's internal confusion and wrangling out in the open, the public appears split over whether Ishiba should resign. Hundreds of people took to the streets outside the prime minister's office Friday to ask him not to step down, with the hashtag "Don't quit Ishiba" trending on social media. A recent Kyodo News poll found 51.6% in favor of Ishiba's resignation, compared with 45.8% who saw no need for it.
