LDP Revives Political Fundraisers with Ishiba Ally’s Participation
After a brief spell of warm spring-like weather, Tokyo was suddenly hit by the harshness of winter on March 4. Just past 11 a.m., a man in a suit hurried out of a hotel near Nagatacho, the political center of Japan, and got into a waiting car. His expression seemed to carry a sense of fulfillment for some reason.
That man was House of Representatives member Yoshihisa Furukawa (59). The event held at the hotel was a seminar titled “Steering the Course of the Times,” with an attendance fee of 20,000 yen. The invitation obtained by this magazine included a small note stating, “This is a political fundraising party.”
After graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law, Furukawa joined the Ministry of Construction (now the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) before running as an independent candidate in 2003 and winning his first election. He later joined the LDP with additional endorsement but left the party after voting against then-Prime Minister Koizumi’s postal privatization bill. He later returned to the LDP and has since held various government positions, including Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Justice, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Environment, and Deputy Minister of Finance. Under the Kishida Cabinet, he served as Minister of Justice and is now a veteran LDP lawmaker with eight election wins.
“Furukawa was the first Secretary-General of the now-dissolved Suigetsukai faction, formerly led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (68), serving for over three years. The Secretary-General is essentially the faction’s treasurer. After moving to the Motegi faction, which has also since disbanded, he is now unaffiliated with any faction. However, in the previous LDP presidential election, he voted for Ishiba in the runoff. It is widely known that he still has a close relationship with Prime Minister Ishiba,” said a political reporter from a major national newspaper.
The LDP must also change to adapt to the times
A supporter who attended the party, which started at 10 AM, described the scene:
“All 180 prepared seats were filled, and additional seats were added at the back. I was surprised that nearly 200 people attended. Perhaps it’s because of his close ties to Prime Minister Ishiba. He is a calm person and spoke steadily about his views during the lecture. He also mentioned something like, ‘The LDP must change its way of thinking to adapt to the times,’ which reinforced my impression that he shares the same liberal mindset as Ishiba. The lecture lasted about 40 minutes, and the event ended immediately after. The takeaway gift was a MAISEN katsu sandwich, a burger, and tea. Since he is neither a second-generation politician nor affiliated with any faction, he probably has no choice but to raise funds on his own.”
In December last year, it was revealed that Furukawa’s political organization had failed to report a total of 710,000 yen in political fundraising party ticket purchases over the two years from 2022 to 2023, leading to corrections in his political funding reports. Perhaps the sense of fulfillment on his face earlier came from the relief of having successfully completed the party.
