Tag - diet

 
 

DIET

Opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara suggested his party would accept postponing to fiscal 2026 the abolition of the income cap on financial aid for households with students attending private high schools.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2025
Nippon Ishin to accept fiscal year 2026 income cap abolition for tuition aid
Making education free is one of Nippon Ishin's conditions for supporting the fiscal 2025 state budget bill.
Ichiro Aisawa (second from left), head of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, addresses a meeting of major political parties on election-related issues held at the parliament building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2025
Japan parties to tackle issue of collaborating candidates
A provision to unify the size and other aspects of posters, which currently vary by election type, was also included in the bill.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a session of parliament on Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2025
Budget talks intensify between ruling coalition and opposition parties
The minority government is looking to pass its budget by March 2 to give Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba some breathing room.
Dewi Sukarno (center) at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2025
Celebrity Dewi Sukarno launches political group for animal rights
The 12 Heiwa To party, whose name is a play on "wan-nyan" (bow-meow), will focus on animal protection as its main policy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba talks with executives of his Liberal Democratic Party in the parliament building in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025
Japan's ruling-opposition talks reach a critical point
For its enactment by the end of March, the fiscal 2025 budget bill needs to clear the Lower House on March 2, at the latest.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (center) attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2025
Japan's Cabinet approves legislation on 'active' cybersecurity
The new measures aim to enable the government to infiltrate the sources of cyberattacks in order to neutralize them.
The ruling coalition has put forward a plan to make public school tuition free, with costs of up to ¥118,800 yearly subsidized for all families regardless of income.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
Recent talks on education funding for all might be missing the point
As the government works to pass its budget without a majority, the issue of free education for all has become key to negotiations for support in parliament.
Only couples experiencing infertility would be eligible to access assisted reproductive technology, while those in de facto marriages and same-sex couples will be excluded.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 6, 2025
Assisted reproductive tech bill submitted to Upper House
The proposed legislation is aimed at guaranteeing the right of people born through the use of such technology to know their origins.
Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, attends a news conference last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 2, 2025
CDP to present 'full package' of budget revisions in mid-February
The opposition party's upcoming revisions will include a gasoline tax cut, free school lunches and tuition-free high school education regardless of parents' income levels.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, along with other members of the imperial family, attend the spring garden party at Akasaka Palace  in Tokyo in April last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
Lower House speaker wants early conclusion on imperial family talks
Despite the speaker's hopes, it is unclear whether an agreement can be reached among the parties because there remain gaps between their views.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a Lower House budget committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
LDP gets a taste of life with an opposition-led budget committee
A move to summon a former LDP faction accountant risks upsetting the party's parliamentary timetable and exposing it to criticism.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an Upper House plenary session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
Ishiba aims to get assurances from Trump over Senkaku Islands
Ishiba also said he intends to seek assistance from Trump in resolving the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.
The Lower House Budget Committee vote to summon Jun Matsumoto, a former LDP faction's accountant, in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Budget Committee votes to summon former LDP faction accountant
The move ends a stalemate between the LDP and opposition parties, the latter of which had conditioned the start of budget deliberations on the inquiry.
Nippon Ishin no Kai leaders Hirofumi Yoshimura (left) and Seiji Maehara attend the party's executive meeting in the city of Osaka in December.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Shared concerns could bring LDP and Nippon Ishin together on 2025 budget
Nippon Ishin's challenge is to get the LDP to secure free high school education and ensure support for the financially troubled Osaka Kansai Expo.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and members of the Liberal Democratic Party take a group photo at the party's headquarters in Tokyo during the Oct. 27 Lower House elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2025
Adjusting to the new normal in Japanese politics
The upheaval of the past year has forced a fundamental rethinking of how political watchers must observe things in Tokyo
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a Lower House plenary session on Monday. Ishiba needs to secure passage of the annual budget to demonstrate he can run policy effectively with his minority government.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2025
Japan's opposition DPP to block budget without higher tax allowance
The ruling LDP and Komeito are also negotiating with Nippon Ishin no Kai, who want the government to make school education free for all students.
Constitutional Democratic Party head Yoshihiko Noda (right) at a plenary session in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2025
Constitutional Democratic Party head grills Ishiba on diplomacy with Trump
The CDP leader raised concerns about the United States' decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris agreement on climate change.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Japan's foreign minister vows to take ties with U.S. to new heights
The minister said he will work to take the two countries' cooperation to new heights by building a strong relationship of trust with the Trump administration.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025
Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech
The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan