Insights | Nagatacho Update

DP Selects Renho as New Leader

The Democratic Party (DP), Japan's main opposition party, chose Renho as its new leader today.  Renho, who previously served as a deputy leader of the party and a third-term member at the House of Councillors, gained almost 60% of the votes and defeated other two candidates, Seiji Maehara, a former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (now the DP) and former minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yuichiro Tamaki, a member of the House of Representatives.

Extraordinary Diet Session to Open on 26 Sept.

Prime Minister Abe's office and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) agreed to open an extraordinary diet session on 26 September, according to the media. Considering the volume of the continuous issues, it was said that PM Abe wished the session to be convened by mid-September, mainly in order to introduce a bill to ratify TPP before the U.S. presidential election. However, they decided to push the date later due to the leadership election of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) scheduled on 15 September. For more details, please read an article on NIkkei Asian Review linked below.

Cabinet Reshuffle: List of New Ministers

According to NHK, Prime Minister Abe has determined his new cabinet to support his growth strategy, retaining the key ministers.  It was initially rumored that the reshuffle could be significant this time; however, Abe opted for stability over surprise and only 10 out of 18 ministers will be changed. Among the newcomers, Tomomi Inada, his hawkish ally who is expected to be appointed as Minister of Defense, is drawing extra attentions from China and South Korea. The official appointment shall be announced later today.

New Tokyo Governor Koike Ready for Great Reform

Yuriko Koike, who won the Tokyo gubernatorial election on Sunday, had a press conference today as she kicked off her term. She pledged to reform the metropolitan government and emphasized her initiatives for transparency and information disclosure, aiming for the better budget control over the 2020 Olympics. For more details, please refer to NHK World's coverage linked below.

New Party Breakdown of Upper House

The House of Councillors updated the party breakdown, reflecting the result of the election held on 10 July. The entire list is available from the House of Councillors website linked  below. Additionally, please refer to a chart GR Japan created to compare the seat distribution of the pre/post election as attached.

Pages