Upper House Election Campaigning Kicks off: Voters Need to Discern Which Parties are Trustworthy

Editorial

15:25 JST, July 4, 2025

It may be because effective measures cannot be taken in the face of a mountain of challenges. Trust in the established political parties has been shaken. At the same time, the power of emerging political groups is also unknown.

What can be done to break through the sense of stagnation that covers Japan? Each party must clearly show the way. Voters must also calmly determine which parties and groups they will trust to resolve these challenges.

The campaign for the House of Councillors election has kicked off, with a total of 125 seats up for grabs — 124 of which are held by members whose terms are set to end plus one vacant seat to fill in the Tokyo constituency. A total of 522 people have registered as candidates.

Wage growth has been sluggish during the so-called “lost 30 years” due to the prolonged economic stagnation. At the same time, Japan is facing a low birth rate and aging population, and the burden of taxes and social insurance premiums is increasing, leaving many people dissatisfied with the current situation.

What should be done to grow the economy and raise incomes? It is also important to consider a proper system of benefits and burdens in order to regain trust in the social security system. It is hoped that a substantive debate on these issues will be held from a medium- to long-term perspective during the campaign for the upper house election.

However, the debate in election campaigning has been trivialized to center on whether to provide cash handouts or cut taxes.

In his first speech in Kobe, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, mentioning the timing of the provision, in principle, of ¥20,000 in cash to each member of the public, said that he would make sure that the cash “would be distributed to those who are struggling to make ends meet by the end of this year.”

In the town of Kunitomi, Miyazaki Prefecture, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda explained his pledge to reduce the consumption tax rate on food products to 0%. He said that he would “fulfill the tax cut responsibly.” Other party leaders also stressed the need for cash handouts or the reduction or elimination of the consumption tax.

Simply implementing makeshift measures to deal with high prices is unlikely to be enough to revitalize the economy.

Some emerging groups, such as Sanseito, have increased their momentum by making skillful use of social media.

Social media is said to be an easy way to gather support in a short period of time, as information that matches personal interests and preferences is displayed according to what is searched for.

However, in order for emerging groups to link this to full-fledged activities as political parties, it is essential to appeal to the public with down-to-earth policies that are appropriate for taking charge of national politics, without relying on social media.

With the turbulent international situation, Japan’s economy and security environment is at a crossroads. In order to achieve a breakthrough in tariff negotiations with the United States that have run into difficulties, it may be necessary to rethink the strategy that has been used to date. The current situation in which Russia and North Korea are deepening their military cooperation also cannot be underestimated.

Japan’s presence will diminish if parties simply compete with each other over policies of lavish handouts in the election campaign. The parties should deepen discussions on foreign and security policies.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 4, 2025)