The following is the gist of interpellations at the Upper House audit committee meeting held on June 13, 2022:   Rising prices   Sugio Hideya (Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan): What’s your view on the recent price increases?   Prime Minister Kishida Fumio: They are impacting people’s livelihoods as well as corporate activity and indeed causing public anxiety about the….Read more

Nikkei reported that all the bills submitted by the GOJ are expected to be enacted during the current Diet session for the first time in 26 years. The paper said a bill to revise the Penal Code to unify two types of imprisonment — with and without labor — into a single punishment was enacted during an Upper House plenary….Read more

The following is the gist of interpellations at the intensive session of the Upper House budget committee meeting on June 3, 2022:   Countermeasures against rising prices   Katayama Satsuki (Liberal Democratic Party): What’s your view on the inflation that has arisen since the Russian invasion of Ukraine?   Prime Minister Kishida Fumio: The measures to rein in the rising….Read more

Tokyo, June 3 (Jiji Press)–The leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan plans to submit a no-confidence motion against Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the House of Representatives, over his repeated criticism of a reform plan for the lower chamber of parliament, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.   Hosoda is “not qualified to remain as speaker” of the Lower….Read more

Below is the gist of the interpellations at the Lower House budget committee meeting on June 1, 2022.   Countermeasures against rising prices   Izumi Kenta (CDPJ): Prices are soaring to extraordinary levels, and some people say, “This is Kishida inflation.” The government is not taking any countermeasures against the rising commodity prices. There are no measures against rising food….Read more

Asahi took up remarks made at the Diet on Tuesday by Prime Minister Kishida regarding the statement he made to President Biden during their recent Tokyo summit on his resolve to “secure a substantial increase” in Japan’s defense budget. In response to a query from an opposition lawmaker, the premier said this message should not be construed as a commitment….Read more

By Nobira Yuichi   At an Upper House Budget Committee meeting held on May 31, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio clarified that the remark he made at the recent Japan-U.S. summit that he was “determined to secure substantial increase of [Japan’s] defense budget” was not an “official commitment made to the U.S.” On the word “substantial” (soto-na in Japanese), the Prime….Read more

Tokyo, May 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday vowed to give people a sense of security at a time when the country faces soaring prices of crude oil and other goods.     “The (price) situation is unpredictable, and we will reassure people by swiftly responding to possible unexpected demand for fiscal spending that may arises under the….Read more