January 22, 2026

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko held a press conference in the Diet building on January 21 and published the party’s manifesto for the coming general election scheduled to be held on February 8.

Pledges, which are comprised of five key areas in the manifesto, include the realization of a minimum hourly wage hike with a 1,700-yen goal and a “35-hour, 7-hour-a-day workweek”, the reduction in the consumption tax rate to 5% with eventual abolition in mind, and the departure from Japan’s subservience to the U.S. Trump administration and opposition to the planned massive increase in military spending.

Tamura talked about the current political situation and pointed out that many political parties are shifting rightward. She stressed, “Under this situation, the need is to squarely face up to the Liberal Democratic-“Ishin” government led by Prime Minister Takaichi and to put an end to LDP politics which has brought about harmful impacts on people’s livelihoods, overall peace, and basic human rights.”

Tamura said that as evidenced in its work to reveal the LDP’s slush-fund scandal, the JCP is the only political party capable of confronting LDP politics, adding that the JCP has always been linked with people at the grassroots level and has worked hard to meet their demands.

Stating that the JCP refuses to accept corporate and organizational political donations and government subsidies for political parties, and therefore can change the current political direction for the better, Tamura appealed, “Let us work together to open up a path of hope for a new direction in politics!”