Citing a July 2, 2018 article, this piece criticizes the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan for repeatedly using “struggle tactics” that stall Diet deliberations, including controversies such as “Moritomo–Kake” and alleged sexual-harassment issues.
It connects public remarks by former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani with the collapse of the former Democratic Party and argues that an opposition focused on obstruction rather than policy debate harms the nation and should be removed from the Diet.

2019-02-16.
Opposition lawmakers who do nothing but obstruct are harmful in every way and beneficial in none, and the Constitutional Democratic Party, an “extreme-left party on par with the Japanese Communist Party,” should be excluded from the Diet.
The following is from a truly useful article I just found online.
https://shinjukuacc.com/20180702-03/.
(Edition) Do Not Tolerate Representative Kiyomi Tsujimoto’s Obstruction Strategy.
Delivery time: 2018/07/02 11:45 (Last updated: 2018/07/02 11:48).
Is Representative Kiyomi Tsujimoto the true culprit behind the “armed struggle line” that is paralyzing national politics?
1 An opposition that never learns.
1.1 Former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani criticizes Representative Kiyomi Tsujimoto.
1.2 Moritomo–Kake, sexual harassment, and refusal to deliberate.
1.3 The self-destruction of the former Democratic Party and a CDP that learns nothing.
2 The CDP is the one that should be excluded.
An opposition that never learns.
Former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani criticizes Representative Kiyomi Tsujimoto.
Over domestic politics, there was a report last weekend that I found extremely noteworthy.
Criticism of Tsujimoto over the Constitutional Review Committee: LDP’s Nakatani (Jiji Press, 2018/06/30 18:20).
According to Jiji Press, on Saturday the 30th, former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani of the Liberal Democratic Party gave a speech in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture.
Regarding the fact that deliberations have stopped on the proposed amendment to the National Referendum Act, which would relate to constitutional revision, he reportedly said the following.
“The one stopping it is the CDP’s Kiyomi Tsujimoto, the chair of the Diet affairs committee.
Even an entirely ordinary bill that simply aims to improve convenience for voters is being stalled in the Diet.”
As far as I can remember, it is unusual for a sitting LDP lawmaker to criticize by name another party’s Diet affairs chair, and it is also unusual for Jiji Press, which forms part of the mass media, to report it.
This website usually criticizes the mass media’s reporting posture harshly, but when an article is good, I want to say it is good.
That said, because it is a short article, it does not provide the full context of Nakatani’s remarks, nor do we know his precise intent.
If I may “read between the lines,” it may indicate that exasperation with the CDP’s posture is spreading among lawmakers.
Moritomo–Kake, sexual harassment, and refusal to deliberate.
If you think about it, the current “largest opposition party” is the CDP in the House of Representatives and the DPFP in the House of Councillors.
There have been cases of a “twisted Diet” between the ruling and opposition camps, but it seems rare for the largest opposition party to be “twisted” between the two chambers.
However, both the CDP and the DPFP mainly originate from the Democratic Party or the former Democratic Party of Japan.
If one had to categorize them bluntly, the “left wing of the DPJ” became the CDP, and the “right wing of the DPJ” became the DPFP.
Their common feature is that both are treasure houses not of “human resources,” but of “human liabilities.”
Even in the DPJ era, the party still maintained something like pride, and there were at least some lawmakers who believed they should not engage only in extreme nitpicking and should instead participate in proper policy debate.
But the CDP, now the largest opposition party in the House of Representatives, clearly inherits the bad DNA of the old Socialist Party.
That is, it keeps obstructing national politics over trivial matters, and one could call it “struggle tactics.”
The “Moritomo–Kake issue” refers to the “suspicion that Shinzo Abe abused his position as Prime Minister to provide illegal favors to a private school run by a friend,” but despite the Asahi Shimbun and the CDP making a huge uproar for a year and a half, not a single piece of decisive evidence has emerged that Abe committed a crime.
The “sexual harassment issue” refers to the allegation that Junichi Fukuda, then the administrative vice-minister of the Ministry of Finance (who resigned at the end of April), sexually harassed a TV Asahi female reporter, but even though no decisive evidence has emerged, the opposition demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso.
When their demand was not accepted, opposition lawmakers then took a self-declared 20-day “refusal to deliberate” vacation around Golden Week, and on the internet they received the honorable title of “enemy of the people.”
The self-destruction of the former Democratic Party and a CDP that learns nothing.
Watching the CDP’s behavior, the first thing that comes to mind is the self-destruction of the former Democratic Party.
Looking back now, around July last year, opinion polls recorded the lowest approval ratings ever for the Abe administration.
Of course, the Moritomo–Kake issue had a major impact, and in addition, then Defense Minister Tomomi Inada becoming a target of mass-media attacks cannot be ignored.
But what was the situation of the former Democratic Party, the largest opposition party at the time?
Did it seize the moment of falling approval and gain momentum to become the leading party in the next general election?
In fact, its own approval rating was already at a historic low.
The reason was the series of scandals, including the “dual nationality issue” of party leader Renho Murata and the gasoline and affair scandals involving lawmaker Shiori Yamao.
Indeed, in the July 2017 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, the LDP suffered a crushing defeat, but the party that surged was not the former Democratic Party; it was “Tomin First no Kai,” led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
Koike effectively became the “eye of the storm.”
There were rumors she might create a new national party and achieve a change of government, but as soon as the snap election was decided in September, party leader Seiji Maehara decided that “the Democratic Party will not field candidates,” and the party self-destructed.
The party tried to merge entirely into Koike’s Party of Hope, but the left wing was excluded by the “logic of exclusion.”
Those excluded formed the CDP, and those excluded even further formed groups such as the “Independent Group,” and the former Democratic Party truly splintered into pieces.
Fundamentally, the party splintered because it had no policy debate and instead adopted a strategy of simply paralyzing Diet deliberations, and that is precisely why it came to be strongly disliked by ordinary citizens.
Looking at today’s CDP, I cannot help thinking these are people who never learn.
The CDP is the one that should be excluded.
By the way, although it is an older report, there was an interesting remark by Representative Tsujimoto.
Tsujimoto: “We will create a twisted Diet in the Upper House election” (Jiji Press, 2018/06/09 18:18).
Her “armed struggle line” seems thorough, and according to Jiji Press, at a political fundraising party held in Takatsuki City, Osaka Prefecture, she reportedly said the following.
“In the next Upper House election, we will unite the power of the opposition and strike the ruling party, and we want to create a twist in which the ruling and opposition sides are reversed in both chambers.”
In short, it is not “achieving a change of government,” but “creating a twisted Diet.”
Takatsuki City is Tsujimoto’s base, and it is also where a girl died after a block wall collapsed in the Northern Osaka earthquake on the 18th of last month.
There are claims that various problems may be hidden in Takatsuki’s local administration, but that too may be exactly what one would expect in her home ground.
In any case, what is actually occurring is not a “twist between the ruling and opposition sides.”
It is a “twist of the largest opposition party between the two chambers.”
The reason for this twist is likely that many former Democratic Party lawmakers prefer to belong not to the CDP with its “armed struggle line,” but to the “less bad” DPFP.
In any case, the Diet is not a place for nitpicking.
It is a place for healthy debate.
Opposition lawmakers who do nothing but obstruct bring a hundred harms and not a single benefit, and the Constitutional Democratic Party, an “extreme-left party on par with the Japanese Communist Party,” should be excluded from the Diet.
Of course, there are many problems even within opposition parties such as the DPFP.
However, even if there is no dissolution of the Lower House, a regular election for the House of Councillors will be held next summer.
By that time, I hope the internet will spread even further and that the dangers of the Constitutional Democratic Party will permeate public awareness.