LDP factions’ party tickets were mostly bought by major corporations

   A series of Liberal Democratic Party factions’ fundraising parties ended on June 11, when a faction of Nikai Toshihiro, LDP Diet Affairs Committee chair, held its party at a hotel in Tokyo, in which more than 3,000 people participated.

As a House of Councilors election is coming up, these gatherings are particularly important to all nine LDP factions not only as fundraising opportunities but also as political rallies.

   Recent fundraising parties were marked by an increase in the number of corporations willing to buy party tickets. Major corporations bought tickets in bulk. Assigning tickets to affiliated companies and subcontractors, a number of major corporation groups bought more than 100 tickets (20,000 yen each) for just one party.

   The record profits made by big firms, the Japan Business Federation’s increasing involvement in politics, and the removal of a ban on foreign owned-enterprises’ political donations contributed to the increase in ticket sales.

   The other characteristic of fundraising events was that LDP factions used them as opportunities to proclaim their strong intentions for constitutional revision.

   Former Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka, who is leading a faction which Prime Minister Abe Shinzo used to belong to, called for constitutional revision “based on Japan’s history and culture.”

   The Yamasaki faction was bragging about its leader Yamasaki Taku pioneering in constitutional revision discussions, claiming that the atmosphere tabooing such discussions changed after he called for constitutional revision in an LDP presidential election campaign for the first time in LDP history.

   The Nikai faction boasted about its contribution to getting a series of Abe’s “breakaway from postwar regime” bills enacted, including the bill to upgrade the Defense Agency to the Defense Ministry, the Fundamental Law of Education revision bill, and the constitutional revision procedures bill.

   Foreign Minister Aso Taro, for his part, expressed his loyalty to Prime Minister Abe who is calling for the Constitution to be revised during his tenure. Aso urged members of his faction to “unite under Commander Abe Shinzo.”

Until the mid-1990s, the LDP had an atmosphere in which opposition would be expressed by other factions if the prime minister called for the Constitution to be changed during his tenure. However, in the series of fundraising events this year, there was almost no voice expressing concerns over Abe’s hawkish moves.

- Akahata, June 13, 2007