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Yomiuri Shimbun
44 minutes ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Ruling, Opposition Parties to Delay Compiling Plan on Imperial Succession; General Agreement on Female Imperial Family Members Keeping Status
The Yomiuri Shimbun Members of the Liberal Democratic Party and Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan attend a meeting on Imperial succession in April. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan are expected to postpone compiling a plan for stable Imperial succession. The leaders and deputy leaders of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors had hoped to have the plan be completed before the upper house election this summer, according to sources. The two parties apparently decided they needed more time for discussions, as they failed to overcome their differences after several unofficial meetings. The parties mostly discussed two issues: whether to allow female Imperial family members retain their Imperial status after marriage and whether the Imperial family should adopt male descendants of male lines of former Imperial family branches. The parties are generally in agreement on the issue of female Imperial family members retaining their status. However, the LDP opposed the idea of giving husbands and children of female Imperial family members Imperial status. The LDP said it is concerned that it might lead to an emperor from the female line. The CDPJ, on the other hand, seemed positive about the idea of having an emperor from the female line. LDP top adviser Taro Aso and CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda have repeatedly held unofficial negotiations, looking for common ground. Aso argued that Imperial status should only be given to the husbands and children of female Imperial family members if her husband is a descendant from the male line of one of the 11 branch families that lost their Imperial status after World War II. Noda presented a plan to have the Imperial House Council resolve the Imperial status issue. As both parties are in general agreement regarding female Imperial family members retaining their Imperial status after marriage, some said a plan should be compiled ahead of other issues. However, House of Representatives Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga took a more cautious stance and said the issue should be decided at the same time as whether to give husbands and children an Imperial status and pushed to postpone the final decisions.
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Opposition chief sorry for calling gov't reserve rice 'animal feed'
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the increasingly popular opposition party in Japan, apologized Saturday for having referred to the government's rice stockpiles as "animal feed," days after drawing criticism on social media. Tamaki, who heads the Democratic Party for the People, said on a TV program, "I regret that I caused discomfort to those who have been waiting for the government's stockpiled rice" amid soaring prices of the Japanese staple food, adding, "I would like to apologize." During a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Tamaki, whose party has pitched policies aimed at appealing to younger voters, said, "Even if you say you're selling at a low price something that would end up as animal feed in a year, it's not something people truly need." Tamaki was apparently pointing to stockpiled rice from the 2021 harvest, which the government is releasing to the public in an effort to curb surging prices across the country. On Saturday, Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a meeting in Kagoshima Prefecture, where agriculture is a core industry, that Tamaki was "disrespectful to the farmers who put their heart and soul into their work." Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, also criticized Tamaki's remark at a press conference on Friday, calling it "not appropriate." © KYODO
The Mainichi
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Mainichi
Opposition chief sorry for calling gov't reserve rice "animal feed"
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the increasingly popular opposition party in Japan, apologized Saturday for having referred to the government's rice stockpiles as "animal feed," days after drawing criticism on social media. Tamaki, who heads the Democratic Party for the People, said on a TV program, "I regret that I caused discomfort to those who have been waiting for the government's stockpiled rice" amid soaring prices of the Japanese staple food, adding, "I would like to apologize." During a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Tamaki, whose party has pitched policies aimed at appealing to younger voters, said, "Even if you say you're selling at a low price something that would end up as animal feed in a year, it's not something people truly need." Tamaki was apparently pointing to stockpiled rice from the 2021 harvest, which the government is releasing to the public in an effort to curb surging prices across the country. On Saturday, Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a meeting in Kagoshima Prefecture, where agriculture is a core industry, that Tamaki was "disrespectful to the farmers who put their heart and soul into their work." Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, also criticized Tamaki's remark at a press conference on Friday, calling it "not appropriate."
Japan Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Diet begins debate on dual surname bill for 1st time in 28 years
The Diet on Friday began its first deliberations in 28 years on legislation that would give married couples the option of keeping different surnames. The passage of any of the three bills submitted separately by three opposition parties, however, looks unlikely during the current Diet session through late June, despite growing public acceptance of their push to change the longstanding rule requiring married couples to share a single family name. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads a minority government, remains reluctant to allow the change, with some within the party concerned that it would hurt family cohesion and traditional values. A revision to the Civil Code is required to enable couples to keep different family names after marriage. Up to now, it is mostly women who abandon their maiden names. Among the vocal supporters of introducing a dual family-name system, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan seeks to allow people to choose whether to retain their family name or change it to their partner's. The couples would be required to decide, upon marriage, which of their family names their children will use. The Democratic Party for the People also wants to allow separate family names, but, according to its bill, children should automatically use the family name of the head of the household couples designated in their family register. The Japan Innovation Party, meanwhile, is sticking to the principle of one family name for each household. But it aims to give legal status when a person uses their premarriage name even after wedlock by allowing it to be specified in the family register. In 1996, the Justice Ministry's legal counsel recommended that couples should be able to choose to keep different family names upon marriage and decide in advance which family name will identify their children, although the same name should be used by all offspring. The following year, parliament deliberated on an opposition-submitted bill to revise the Civil Code that would have opened the way for the dual surname system. Since then, Japan has made little headway in making the change. In recent years, business leaders have been stepping up calls for introducing the system of different surnames, and the public has warmed to the idea. In a Kyodo News poll, 71 percent of respondents supported the dual family-name system, while 27 percent were opposed. Ishiba has stressed the need for the LDP to deepen internal debate on the issue, but the ruling party has yet to reach a consensus ahead of the House of Councillors election. © KYODO
Asahi Shimbun
4 days ago
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Lower House reviews three bills on dual surname issue
Takahiro Kuroiwa of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan goes over the outline of a bill he submitted for dual surnames during the Lower House Committee on Judicial Affairs' meeting on May 30. (Takeshi Iwashita) The Lower House Committee on Judicial Affairs began discussions on May 30 on multiple opposition party bills that would allow married couples to have different surnames, the first time it has met on the issue since 1997. The three bills vary in framework and were submitted by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People and the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin). Even though all three bills are unlikely to pass, any making it to the voting stage would mark a first for any piece of dual surname legislation and put the pertinent party's convictions to the test. One past instance where resolve crumbled was in 1991 when the justice minister at the time requested the ministry's Legislative Council to review the single-surname policy. Japan's ratification of the United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) prompted this request because the CEDAW committee usually demanded its member parties to correct their domestic laws discriminating against women. The Legislative Council then proposed allowing each spouse to choose their last names in 1996 and the government responded positively with a plan to submit a bill to revise related civil laws. The plan was shut down after opposition from conservative members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The next push for dual surnames saw more success when the now-dissolved Democratic Party of Japan's bill made it to the Lower House in 1997. However, the Judicial Affairs Committee discussed the bill but didn't hold a vote and the bill was abandoned. Although married couples can choose to adopt either spouse's last name, more than 90 percent of women change their surname to their husband's. This has prompted four separate instances, as of last year, where the CEDAW committee has recommended that the Japanese government revise the civil law around family names. SAME INTENT, DIFFERENT APPROACHES The ruling LDP has lawmakers who both support and oppose the issue. This internal division has led to the party postponing its decision on whether to submit its own bill and no set timeline on when this would occur. The three bills submitted were discussed simultaneously during the Lower House committee session, with lawmakers from each party outlining each of their respective bills. Of these, the bill of the CDP of Japan most closely matches what the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council proposed and would grant married couples the freedom to either share or keep their respective surnames. If a couple opts for separate last names, the legal marriage process will include a required step where they must choose which name their children will use should they have any. Regardless of their choice of a single or separate surnames, the couple and their children are registered as the same family. The DPP's bill is also based on the Legislative Council's outline. Its key difference is that couples must choose who to register as the head of the family and this will dictate the surname of any future children. The party tailored its bill to better suit couples without children in recognition that not every married couple has them. Nippon Ishin, meanwhile, is the outlier. Its bill maintains the one-surname policy but also provides legal assurances for the official use of maiden names as the practice currently has no legal framework. Its outline indicates that spouses have the option to also register a maiden name that can be used for the My Number Card system without having to also list their registered surname. Further discussion on the three bills will occur next week and requests for expert testimonies are also expected. The CDP currently chairs the committee and the party appears to be seeking a vote, a contrast to the LDP's current indecisiveness.
