Judgment Day | This Week in Japanese Politics

The LDP hands out punishments for the kickbacks scandal and no one seems happy, Kishida prepares for his trip to the United States, and Governor Ueda gives a long interview.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) disciplinary committee delivered its long-awaited punishments for lawmakers implicated in the kickbacks, punishing 39 lawmakers, including seven senior Abe faction politicians. The initial response has been critical both inside and outside the LDP. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio hints that a snap election could be coming, but opposition parties are sparring over constitutional revision. Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuo suggested that interest rate hikes could be coming, although household consumption remains weak. The prime minister is getting ready for a trip to Washington that he hopes will show the strength of US-Japan cooperation – and perhaps change the narrative at home. Plus: a gaffe-prone governor steps down.

Politics

The LDP disciplinary committee deliberates on punishments for the kickback scandal.

On Thursday, 4 April, the LDP’s disciplinary committee handed down punishments to party members implicated in the kickback scandal. The committee used a fairly arbitrary threshold – generally those who received kickbacks in excess of JPY 5mn (USD 32,953) over the period from 2018 to 2022 – and doled out punishments to 39 lawmakers, leaving dozens more unpunished. This threshold was not ironclad, however, as several of the Abe faction leaders who received stricter punishments were below it.

Two lawmakers – Shionoya Ryū and Sekō Hiroshige, the chairman of the Abe faction and its upper house chairman respectively – received the second-highest punishment, a recommendation that they leave the party. Sekō, a former METI minister and one of the late Abe Shinzō’s closest allies, accepted the punishment and immediately announced that he would quit the party. Shionoya, however, fulminated against the decision, describing it as “dictatorial,” arguing that he had been made a scapegoat, and suggesting that Kishida ought to take responsibility himself. He is considering asking the disciplinary committee to look at his case again.

Other Abe faction leaders, including Shimomura Hakubun, Nishimura Yasutoshi, and Takagi Tsuyoshi, received a lesser punishment, having their party membership privileges suspended for a year in the case of the former two and six months in the case of the latter. In practice, they will be unable to vote (or run) in this year’s leadership election and, if a general election is called during the term of their punishment, they would have to run without the LDP’s endorsement. Still others, including former chief cabinet secretary Matsuno Hirokazu, former LDP policy chief Hagiuda Kōichi, and former Nikai faction official Takeda Ryōta will be prevented from holding party offices for the near future.

While understandably few have been as vocal as Shionoya in criticizing the committee’s decision, it is unlikely that he is alone in questioning the timing and the substance of the punishments. Reports from grassroots LDP supporters suggest that they fear that the punishments will not be sufficient to reverse the party’s declining support. The Asahi Shimbun quotes one of Hagiuda’s constituents saying that his punishment was too light and that he should resign from the Diet.