September 19, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira and JCP member of the House of Councillors Kira Yoshiko on September 17 took part as guests in a social gathering held in Tokyo by an organization of artists consisting of 44 performing arts groups such as orchestras and theater companies.

Along with the JCP lawmakers, 100 persons attended the gathering which included politicians and representatives of the 44 affiliates, e.g. the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation, the Japan Ballet Association, the Association of Japanese Theatre Companies, and the Rakugo Arts Association.

JCP Kira in her speech stressed the need to increase government spending on cultural infrastructure, and expressed her determination to work hard to achieve this.

Koike in his speech stressed, “The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that the government measures on culture and the arts are inadequate. In collaboration with other parties, we’ll work hard to increase the cultural budget.”

Vice-chairman of the performance artists’ organization Nishikawa Nobuhiro, a well-known theater director and the vice director of the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNT) Drama Studio, delivered the opening address. He valued the effort the attendees have been making to promote culture and the arts, and called for their continued cooperation in efforts to improve the government’s cultural policy and budget so that all performing arts organizations will be able to have a solid financial foundation and be enabled to fully engage in creative pursuits.