October 25, 2025
Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae on October 24 delivered her first policy speech to both chambers of the Diet. Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko at a press conference in the Diet building criticized PM Takaichi’s address for declaring to push forward with a major arms buildup as planned, paying no heed to the hardships in ordinary people’s livelihoods as well as to their anger toward the LDP’s corruption. Tamura stated, “We will confront the policies of the Takaichi-led government head-on in the upcoming Diet debates.”
Regarding Takaichi’s speech, Tamura raised three issues.
First, it ignores the voters’ verdict of “No” in the July Upper House election. Tamura pointed out, “PM Takaichi mentioned nothing about the ‘politics and money’ allegations as if it were a past issue,” despite the public anger over the LDP’s slush-fund scandal which led to the collapse of the LDP-Komei coalition. She added, “Most opposition parties demanded a lower consumption tax rate during the election campaign, relegating the LDP and the Komei party into a minority position in the Diet. PM Takaichi, however, did not say a single word about the consumption tax issue.”
Secondly, the policy speech declares that the government will proceed with the planned massive military expansion. PM Takaichi announced that the government will implement a supplementary budget in order to move up the schedule for increasing defense spending to 2% of GDP. Tamura criticized this by stating, “Then, more than one trillion yen will be added to military budget, but the LDP didn’t say anything about that during the House of Councillors election campaign. How exactly do they intend to secure the financial resources needed to fund such a huge amount of spending?” She said, “This is essentially her pledge, ahead of next week’s Japan-U.S. summit, to comply with U.S. President Trump’s demand for an increase in military spending to 3.5% of GDP (approximately 21 trillion yen annually).”
Thirdly, the policy speech made no mention of providing the necessary support to protect people’s livelihoods from inflation and rising prices. Tamura noted that PM Takaichi in her address indicated specific policies to cut back on social welfare spending by such means as removing certain OTC-like drugs from national insurance coverage and reducing the number of hospital beds available. The JCP EC chair pointed out that the deterioration of social security will further worsen people’s living conditions. She stated, “PM Takaichi’s policy speech amounts to a declaration of advancing the worst policies by the worst postwar government,” and expressed her determination to thoroughly pursue these issues during the upcoming Diet questioning.
Regarding Takaichi’s speech, Tamura raised three issues.
First, it ignores the voters’ verdict of “No” in the July Upper House election. Tamura pointed out, “PM Takaichi mentioned nothing about the ‘politics and money’ allegations as if it were a past issue,” despite the public anger over the LDP’s slush-fund scandal which led to the collapse of the LDP-Komei coalition. She added, “Most opposition parties demanded a lower consumption tax rate during the election campaign, relegating the LDP and the Komei party into a minority position in the Diet. PM Takaichi, however, did not say a single word about the consumption tax issue.”
Secondly, the policy speech declares that the government will proceed with the planned massive military expansion. PM Takaichi announced that the government will implement a supplementary budget in order to move up the schedule for increasing defense spending to 2% of GDP. Tamura criticized this by stating, “Then, more than one trillion yen will be added to military budget, but the LDP didn’t say anything about that during the House of Councillors election campaign. How exactly do they intend to secure the financial resources needed to fund such a huge amount of spending?” She said, “This is essentially her pledge, ahead of next week’s Japan-U.S. summit, to comply with U.S. President Trump’s demand for an increase in military spending to 3.5% of GDP (approximately 21 trillion yen annually).”
Thirdly, the policy speech made no mention of providing the necessary support to protect people’s livelihoods from inflation and rising prices. Tamura noted that PM Takaichi in her address indicated specific policies to cut back on social welfare spending by such means as removing certain OTC-like drugs from national insurance coverage and reducing the number of hospital beds available. The JCP EC chair pointed out that the deterioration of social security will further worsen people’s living conditions. She stated, “PM Takaichi’s policy speech amounts to a declaration of advancing the worst policies by the worst postwar government,” and expressed her determination to thoroughly pursue these issues during the upcoming Diet questioning.
