The Japan Innovation Party (日本維新の会, Nippon Ishin no Kai, Japan Restoration Association)[b] is a conservative and right-wing populist[6][7] political party in Japan.[21] Formed as Initiatives from Osaka in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in the National Diet following the July 2016 House of Councillors election.
Japan Innovation Party 日本維新の会 | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | Ishin, JIP |
Leader | Nobuyuki Baba |
Secretary-General | Fujita Fumitake |
Deputy Leader | Hirofumi Yoshimura |
Founders | Ichirō Matsui Tōru Hashimoto |
Founded | 2 November 2015 |
Split from | Japan Innovation Party |
Headquarters | Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
Newspaper | Nippon Ishin[1] |
Student wing | Ishin Students |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-right[9][10][A] |
Colours | Green[11] |
Slogan | 維新はやる。まっすぐに、改革を。 Ishin wa yaru. Massuguni kaikaku o.[12] ("We'll do this. Innovation straight away.") |
Councillors | 20 / 248 |
Representatives | 41 / 465 |
Prefectural assembly members | 124 / 2,598 |
Municipal assembly members | 766 / 32,430 |
Website | |
| |
^ A: The party is sometimes described as far-right,[a][16][17][18] but voters in Japan perceive the party as centrist.[19][20] |
The party advocates decentralization,[2] federalism (Dōshūsei)[citation needed], free education,[22] and limited government policies.[7] Arguing to remove defense spending limits, and standing with the Liberal Democratic Party on revising the constitution,[23] the party gained conservative support during the 2021 general election, primarily in Osaka.[21]
The party was formed in October 2015 under the name Initiatives from Osaka (おおさか維新の会, Ōsaka Ishin no Kai) by Osaka governor Ichirō Matsui and then-Osaka mayor Tōru Hashimoto after they and their supporters left the Japan Innovation Party.[24][25] The Japanese name was the same as the Osaka Restoration Association, which was also formed by Hashimoto, but was differentiated by writing "Osaka" in hiragana (おおさか) rather than in kanji (大阪).[24]
The first major election contested by the party was the July 2016 House of Councillors election. The party performed well in the Kansai region, winning two of four seats in the Osaka at-large district and one of three seats in the Hyogo at-large district.[26][27] In the national PR block the party finished fifth with 5,153,584 votes (9.2%), which meant it won 4 of the 48 seats. The majority of its votes were again centred around Osaka; the party received the most votes in Osaka Prefecture (1,293,626; 34.9%)[28] and was second behind the Liberal Democratic Party in Hyogo Prefecture (470,526; 19.5%).[29] The gain in seats made the party the third-biggest opposition in the National Diet.[30] However, after the election Matsui said the poor showing outside of Kansai was unacceptable for a national party, and that the party would adopt a new name that did not include the word "Osaka" in an attempt to broaden its nationwide appeal.[31] At a meeting on 23 August 2016, the party voted to change its name to Nippon Ishin no Kai (日本維新の会) but did not announce an official English name.[30]
In April 2023 the party made significant gains in local elections, more than doubling its seat totals in various local assemblies to 124.[32] Notably the party also captured the governorship of Nara prefecture through its candidate Makoto Yamashita.[33] Two weeks later the party's candidate Yumi Hayashi took Wakayama 1st district in a by-election.[34]
Views on the political position of Nippon Ishin no Kai have been varied. While it has been described as being neoconservative,[35] and right-wing populist by its opponents, the party itself commits to social liberalism, reformism, regionalism and 'self-sustainability' in its party constitution.[36] The party supports the amendment of the Japanese constitution, including the installation of a constitutional court, mandated free education, and increased devolution.[37] The party has not made an official stance on either supporting or opposing the amendment to Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which prohibits Japan from possessing an offensive military, however has pledged to partake in debate.[38] Economically, the party supports increased economic liberalisation, including deregulation of the labour market and the streamlining of bureaucratic structure[39] and optional separate surnames for married couples.[40]
The party has recently been described as centrist and moderate, being perceived as such by the voter base, according to recent public opinion polls.[41][42] The party was also referred to as libertarian.[4][5]
The party manifesto for the 2022 Japanese Councillors election, dubbed "維新八策2022", containing 402 individual policy proposals, and included the following pledges:[43][44][45]
(Source:[46])
Position | Name |
---|---|
Leader | Nobuyuki Baba |
Deputy leader | Hirofumi Yoshimura |
Secretary-General | Fujita Fumitake |
Chairman of the Policy Bureau | Shun Otokita |
General Affairs Committee chief | Inoue Hidetaka |
Diet Affairs Committee chief | Takashi Endo |
Joint House Caucus Chair | Akira Ishii |
House of Councilors Caucus Chair | Hitoshi Asada |
No. | Name | Took office | Left office |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tōru Hashimoto | 2 November 2015 | 12 December 2015 |
2 | Ichirō Matsui | 12 December 2015 | 23 August 2016 |
3 | 23 August 2016 | 27 November 2021 | |
4 | 27 November 2021 | 27 August 2022 | |
5 | Nobuyuki Baba | 27 August 2022 | Present |
Election | Leader | Constituency | Party list | Total | Position | Status | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Seats | +/- | ||||
2017 | Ichirō Matsui | 1,765,053 | 3.18 | 3 / 289
|
new | 3,387,097 | 6.07 | 8 / 176
|
new | 11 / 465
|
new | 6th | Opposition |
2021 | 4,802,793 | 8.36 | 16 / 289
|
13 | 8,050,830 | 14.0 | 25 / 176
|
17 | 41 / 465
|
30 | 3rd | Opposition |
Election | Leader | Constituency | Party list | Seats | Position | Status | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Won | +/- | Total | +/- | ||||
2016 | Ichirō Matsui | 3,303,419 | 5.84 | 3 / 73
|
new | 5,153,584 | 9.20 | 4 / 48
|
new | 7 / 121
|
new | 12 / 242
|
7 | 5th | Opposition |
2019 | 3,664,530 | 7.28 | 5 / 74
|
new | 4,907,844 | 9.80 | 5 / 50
|
new | 10 / 124
|
new | 16 / 245
|
4 | 4th | Opposition | |
2022 | 5,533,657 | 10.41 | 5 / 74
|
2 | 7,845,985 | 14.79 | 8 / 50
|
4 | 12 / 125
|
5 | 21 / 248
|
5 | 4th | Opposition |
... The conservative Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which almost quadrupled its haul to 41 seats in the 465-seat legislature, ended up the election's biggest winner, overtaking even the Komeito party, the LDP's coalition partner. ... The right-wing JIP has been seen as a possible ally for the LDP's push to revise the constitution. But it has also called for deregulation, tax cuts and decentralisation of authority to help trigger growth ...
Prime Minister Abe is approaching conservative opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) and even the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) to win their support for constitutional revisions.
One of the opposition parties that benefited from the LDP's loss of seats is Nippon Ishin no Kai, or Japan Innovation Party, a libertarian group with roots in Osaka. The party's presence could triple from 10 before the election. It is likely to surpass Komeito to become the third-largest party.
The biggest gains were made by the populist Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which boosted its numbers from 11 to 41 seats.
一方で、日本維新の会は小さな政府論に右派的なポピュリズムを加えた政党ですが... (On the other hand, the Japan Innovation Party is a political party that has added right-wing populism to its small government theory ...)
...the center-right party largely concentrated in the Kansai region is polling well against other opposition parties...
The center-right populist party saw marked success in last year's election, but its support base remains limited at the national level.