November 29, 2025

The Internal Affairs Ministry on November 28 released a report on political funds for 2024 submitted by each political party.

The total revenue from fundraising parties sharply decreased by 46.7% from the previous year to 4.6 billion yen. A major factor for this was that the Akahata scoop on the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush-fund scandal which led to mounting public criticism, and which in turn pressured the LDP to stop holding fundraising parties.

Meanwhile, the LDP’s political funds report indicated that the party remains highly dependent on government subsidies to political parties as well as on corporate and organizational political donations.

In 2024, the LDP received 15.7 billion yen in government subsidies, accounting for 70.7% of its total revenue of 22.1 billion yen, and 2.38 billion yen in donations from corporations and other organizations, accounting for 10.8% of the total revenue.

The LDP’s coalition partner, “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party also depends highly on state subsidies. The party in 2024 received 3.4 billion yen in subsidies, equivalent to 78.3% of its total earnings. The Ishin party advocates for the “self-defeating reform” which focuses on eliminating wasteful spending of taxpayer money. If it really intends to implement the reform, it should propose to abolish the government subsidy system which is unconstitutional as it forces Japanese citizens to donate 250 yen each to political parties without regard for their political identity.

In contrast, the Japanese Communist Party accepts neither corporate and organizational donations nor tax-funded subsidies as these violate the Constitution and may corrupt political parties. The JCP covers all its activities with membership dues, Akahata subscription fees, and personal donations.

According to the JCP political funds report, the party in 2024 earned about 18.5 billion yen (5.1% lower than the last year) and spent about 19 billion yen (0.8% higher). The party carried over about one billion yen.

Business activities related to the publication of Akahata and other journals and magazines made up 81.3% of the total income and 60.9% of the total expenditures.

JCP Financial and Management Commission Chair Iwai Tetsuya pointed out that the JCP financial report shows that the party is closely connected with people at the grassroots level through its activities centering on Akahata.