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DIET

LDP leader Sanae Takaichi and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito attend a party leaders' meeting on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025
Takaichi's PM bid faces further headwinds with coalition split
Komeito’s decision to end the 26-year partnership with the LDP means the ruling party will need to court opposition parties to vote Takaichi in as prime minister.
Atomic bomb survivors from Nihon Hidankyo making a request to each party at the office building of House of Councilors lawmakers in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Cross-party group for nuclear abolition to be set up in Japan
Nihon Hidankyo members criticized the government for ignoring the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and refusing to send an observer to a meeting of signatories.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks during an interview on Thursday at the parliament building.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025
DPP leader Tamaki negative on joining LDP-led coalition for now
The DPP chief noted that his party would not form a coalition with the LDP if it lacks Komeito.
Officials from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People in the Diet building on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2025
CDP proposes DPP head Tamaki as unified opposition PM candidate
The proposal is believed to be aimed at putting a brake on the LDP's intensified outreach to the DPP as a potential coalition partner.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and LDP counterpart Sanae Takaichi meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2025
After 26 years, Komeito may be showing signs it will break with LDP
Komeito not immediately endorsing Takaichi reflects deep concerns among Soka Gakkai members, the party’s main supporters in the lay Buddhist group, about her ideology and policies.
Sanae Takaichi (left), newly elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 6, 2025
DPP emerges as most likely candidate to help LDP's ruling coalition
With personal ties between their executives and policy proximity, the Democratic Party for the People seems the likeliest to help the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition.
Empress Masako (left), Emperor Naruhito (center) and their daughter Princess Aiko watch the World Athletics Championships held at the National Stadium in Tokyo in September.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 6, 2025
Parliament talks deadlocked on Japan's imperial succession
With no agreement reached during this year's ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, prospects for a consensus of the legislature remain dim.
Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on July 20.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2025
CDP doesn’t rule out cooperation with LDP
Noda’s comments come as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party prepares to elect a new leader, who will need opposition support in order to govern.
A Lower House plenary session in November 2024. The next leader of the Liberal Democratic Party will need to make tough political compromises given the party needs opposition support to pass bills.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 3, 2025
Host of tough compromises on policy issues await next LDP president
Just how much the ruling party needs to compromise will depend on which opposition party it intends to work closer with for any given issue, and the level of that cooperation.
An extraordinary session of the parliament to elect the next prime minister is expected to be convened on Oct. 15.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2025
Parliament expected to elect new prime minister on Oct. 15
After being elected, the new prime minister will form the Cabinet later in the day.
Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai, speaks during a news conference at the Diet on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2025
Nippon Ishin to submit anti-espionage bill to extra Diet session
The bill will call for establishing a foreign intelligence agency based on existing government bodies.
Former lawmaker Akira Ishii has been indicted without arrest for alleged fraud involving state-paid salaries of a secretary.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2025
Akira Ishii, former lawmaker, indicted without arrest over alleged fraud
Ishii is alleged to have defrauded the state of some ¥8 million by registering a male relative as a public secretary.
Hideki Shirakawa, a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, became the second Japanese person to receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry in October 2000.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Oct 1, 2025
Japan Times 2000: Japanese professor wins Nobel Prize in chemistry
Hideki Shirakawa received the Nobel Prize in October 2000 along with two American scientists for their revolutionary work on conductive polymers.
Hirofumi Ryu (center) of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Takashi Endo (left) of Nippon Ishin no Kai and Motohisa Furukawa of the Democratic Party for the People meet in parliament on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2025
Opposition parties unlikely to cooperate in vote to select prime minister
The winner of the LDP election is now expected to be elected prime minister, although the LDP-Komeito coalition lacks majorities in both chambers of parliament.
Shinjiro Koizumi (center), Sanae Takaichi (right), and Yoshimasa Hayashi speak at a news conference for candidates taking part in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in Tokyo on Sept. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2025
Is this the LDP’s last presidential election?
The five LDP presidential candidates — three conservatives and two liberals — are competing to offer the most uninspiring platform.
The National Diet building in Tokyo
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2025
Parliamentary vote to select new prime minister eyed for Oct. 14 or later
The parliamentary affairs chiefs of the LDP and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will begin talks on the schedule on Tuesday.
The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 25, 2025
Will a Lower House election follow LDP’s leadership vote? Maybe not this time
Dissolving the Lower House to call a snap general election soon after the appointment of a new party leader is convention, but the current situation seems more complicated.
(From left) Tadashi Morishima,Takeshi Saiki and Hiroki Abe hold a news conference at parliament after submitting  their letters of resignation to Nippon Ishin no Kai on Sept. 8.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2025
Nippon Ishin expels three member lawmakers
Noting the three also called on other member lawmakers to leave Nippon Ishin, the party rapped the trio for engaging in acts that disrupted order within the party.
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi announces his bid for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidency in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2025
In LDP leadership bid, Kobayashi touts ‘moderate’ stance as selling point
Kobayashi pledged to make Japan a tech powerhouse again, boost defense spending and push through a generational change in the LDP if elected party chief.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a news conference in the parliament building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2025
Japan's opposition parties wary of snap election
The opposition remains fragmented against the ruling coalition in the event a general election is called by the Liberal Democratic Party's next leader.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40