November 6, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko on November 5 in her interpellation at the House of Representatives plenary meeting grilled Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae regarding her stance towards the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush-fund scandal, decrease in the consumption tax rate, wage hikes, Japan-U.S. relations, and other issues.

Tamura stressed that as the LDP showed no remorse for its slush-fund scandal and turned its back on the people’s demand for a lower consumption tax, it resulted in voters’ severe verdict and was driven into a minority position in both chambers of the Diet. She criticized PM Takaichi for drawing a curtain on the slush-fund scandal and giving important posts to slush-fund tainted LDP lawmakers. The JCP EC Chair also criticized the prime minister, saying that in the coalition agreement with the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party, Takaichi shifted the focus away from a ban on political donations from corporations and organizations to a reduction of the number of seats in the House of Representatives. In response, PM Takaichi remained unrepentant and said, “(Scandal-hit lawmakers) fulfilled their responsibility to explain.”

Tamura noted that PM Takaichi in her policy speech announced her decision to abandon a 20,000-yen cash handout measure, the LDP’s promise in the July House of Councillors election, because the measure failed to gain sufficient public understanding. Tamura called for responding to the people’s urgent demand for a decrease in the consumption tax rate. PM Takaichi refused to accept Tamura’s demand, saying that the consumption tax is a stable financial source.

Tamura pointed out that in the Finance Ministry’s survey in FY 2024, while labor’s share ratio which indicates how much of corporate profits go toward wages sharply dropped to 37.4%, the amount of corporate internal reserves increased to 561 trillion yen. “Building a system to distribute the wealth created by workers to them properly is a government responsibility,” said Tamura. She demanded that the government levy a tax on a portion of large corporations’ internal reserves and use it as a revenue source to directly support wage hikes at small- and mid-sized enterprises. PM Takaichi admitted to the fall of the labor share rate but rejected a taxation on corporate internal reserves.

Tamura pointed out that PM Takaichi in the October 28 summit with President Trump expressed her intent to boost Japan’s military capabilities and double its military budget. Stating that PM Takaichi arbitrarily promised the U.S. to dramatically increase Japan’s defense spending, Tamura criticized Takaichi for conducting diplomacy submissive to the U.S., ignoring the public.

Tamura pointed out that PM Takaichi soon after assuming office instructed the Labor Minister to begin discussions on the deregulation of working time. Indicating the Labor Ministry’s data showing that only 0.1% of workers wish to work overtime beyond the current monthly average overtime limit of 80 hours, Tamura said that what the government should is to shorten the workweek.

Regarding a selective dual-surname system for married couples, Tamura urged PM Takaichi to not support the demand for the legalization of the use of maiden names as business names.