Tag - ldp

 
Menu
Search
 
July 07, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

LDP

A surveillance radar system developed by Mitsubishi Electric and exported to the Philippines
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2025
Japan likely to scrap defense equipment export restrictions
Tokyo hopes through the move to expand security cooperation with allies and like-minded nations and bolster its defense industry.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers a policy speech during an extraordinary session of the Lower House in Tokyo on Oct. 24. Japan needs to right-size its parliament to match a declining population.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 5, 2025
A plan to fix voter disparity and modernize Japan’s political system
With the population continuing to decline, down 5% since 2009, and people relocating from rural to urban areas, the scale of the government should also be adjusted.
Lawmakers discuss the issue of political donations during a Lower House special committee on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2025
Japan’s political parties still apart over donation reform bills
Opposition parties criticized the political reform bills, with a Komeito lawmaker calling one of them “totally unacceptable.”
The government and ruling parties are considering reallocating a portion of local corporate and fixed-asset taxes from Tokyo to other local governments.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2025
Government and ruling bloc seek to lessen tax revenue gap among regions
They are considering reallocating part of local corporate and fixed-asset taxes from Tokyo to other local governments.
Ruling and opposition lawmakers deliberate on bills related to political donations reform at a House of Representatives committee session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2025
Japan’s parliament starts debates on corporate donation reform bills
Some have speculated that the ruling side is putting the bills on the back burner.
Katsunobu Kato, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's political system reform panel, speaks at a party meeting on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2025
Proposed Lower House seat reduction could affect 20 prefectures
As the 20 prefectures include areas with many conservative voters who strongly support the LDP, an increasing number of party members are voicing their opposition to the measure.
They government is mulling plans to allow withdrawals under the Nippon Individual Savings Account plan for small-lot investments once children reach the age of 12 to create more flexible asset management to meet needs, such as university enrollment.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2025
Japan weighs launching NISA investment program for children
The government is mulling plans to allow withdrawals under the Nippon Individual Savings Account plan for small-lot investments once children reach the age of 12.
LDP and JIP lawmakers discuss Lower House seats reduction in Tokyo on Nov. 21.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2025
Takaichi and JIP’s Yoshimura agree to submit bill reducing Lower House seats
Passing a bill to cut seats in the lower chamber was a key demand for the Japan Innovation Party to enter into a coalition government with the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan has reportedly held informal talks with the Philippines on the possible export of a Type-03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile system to Manila.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2025
Japan defense firms saw sales boom in ’24 as Tokyo eyes end of more export curbs
Sales by Japan’s top defense firms rose 40% year-on-year in 2024, new research has shown, as Tokyo looks to further ease rules on the export of lethal defense gear.
Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party, speaks at a news conference on Nov. 19.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 1, 2025
Uncertainty looms over Lower House seat reduction
Frustration is increasing within the Liberal Democratic Party over the attitude of the Japan Innovation Party.
Takayuki Kobayashi speaks to fellow Liberal Democratic Party members in Gifu Prefecture on Nov. 1.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 30, 2025
LDP’s Kobayashi advocates Japan’s economic independence from China
The remark came during discussions on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s parliamentary remark on a potential Taiwan contingency and subsequent Chinese pressures on Japan
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya during an interview in September. Kamiya's party, which surprised many with its gains in this year's Upper House Election, increased its spending on online outreach by fourteenfold in 2024.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan political parties boost spending on online outreach
Sanseito, which significantly expanded its seats in the July election for the Upper House, paid a total of ¥37 million in advertising fees to Google Japan in 2024.
Independent Lower House lawmakers (from left) Hiroki Abe, Takeshi Saiki and Tadashi Morishima speak to reporters in parliament on Friday after meeting with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
LDP-led coalition regains Lower House majority with three independents’ backing
With the three lawmakers in the LDP’s in-house group, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be able to pass key budget bills without opposition support.
State Minister of the Cabinet Office Hayato Suzuki (left) delivers opening remarks to the government's expert panel on policies regarding foreign nationals on Thursday. Reiko Hayashi, the director-general of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (right), chairs the panel.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan eyeing much higher visa fees for foreign nationals
The government is considering raising the fee for permanent residency to as high as ¥300,000.
Takashi Endo, parliamentary affairs chief of the Japan Innovation Party and special adviser to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaks during an interview at the parliamentary building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan Innovation Party may leave coalition if seat-cut talks falter
Although the JIP positions seat reductions as an absolute condition for the coalition, there are still cautious voices within the LDP over the move.
In Japan, the left-right label doesn’t apply as conveniently as in the United States or Europe.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2025
A guide to Japan’s political parties ... beyond the binary labels
The origins of the respective parties and who backs them — rather than left-right labels — are more consistent indicators of their leanings.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi takes part in a debate with opposition party leaders, including Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (right center), in parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2025
Takaichi hints that Taiwan remarks were off the cuff
The PM has indicated that she didn’t initially intend to offer an example of what she could consider a “survival-threatening situation” that would allow the SDF to be deployed.
Lower House lawmaker Hitoshi Aoyagi from the Japan Innovation Party speaks during an interview in his parliamentary office on Nov. 20.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 26, 2025
Japan one step closer to relaxing single-surname rule for married couples
While still having married couples adopt the same surname, the ruling coalition is working on a bill that would allow the option of giving more weight to birth names.
The Lower House plenary session where the gasoline tax cut bill was approved, at the Diet on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 25, 2025
Lower House passes bill to scrap add-on gasoline tax
The legislation, adopted at a plenary meeting, also states that the provisional gas oil delivery tax surcharge of ¥17.1 per liter will be abolished April 1 next year.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo, on Oct. 28.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 22, 2025
Japan set to lean on U.S., allies for support if China escalates
For now, Tokyo has stuck to its usual playbook: avoiding tit-for-tat retaliation, keeping communication channels open and hoping tensions cool over time.
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Tokyo hospital baby hatch accepts 20 newborns in first year
Hitoshi Kato (left), head of San-ikukai Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, speaks during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
Hayabusa2 flies past asteroid as Japan aims to acquire data for planetary defense
A graphic illustration of the Hayabusa2 probe flying past the asteroid Torifune
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI
Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER