<figure id="attachment_449133" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-449133" style="width: 1872px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c811864c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/847d398b8d4f1bf1b991001ec4a0ea0a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-449133" class="wp-caption-text">With his high approval rating, Mr. Takaichi would like to dissolve the Diet, but there is a reason why he cannot do so.</figcaption></figure>
<h3> Mr. Takaichi&#8217;s shocking words to those who lost the lower house election in 2012</h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I hope to win the next election only with the official approval of the Liberal Democratic Party.</span></p>
<p> On December 26 last year, after attending the wake of former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (64) had dinner with 15 Diet members who lost in the 2012 lower house election at the Chinese restaurant &#8220;Daikanen&#8221; in the Hotel New Otani in Kioicho, Tokyo. He responded to a question from one of the participants, &#8220;I would like you to dissolve the Diet while the approval rating is still high.</p>
<p> The meeting was seen as a way of pouring cold water on the unsuccessful Diet members, who were excited by the unusually high approval rating. At the same time, the dinner drew speculation as to whether the dissolution of the Diet and a general election were imminent.</p>
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<p> The regular session of the Diet, which convened on January 23, will last 150 days, until June 21 if the session is not extended. It is expected that priority will be given to the enactment of the FY2014 budget bill, the largest in history at 122 trillion yen, by the end of FY2013. The current topic of conversation in Nagata-cho is whether or not Takaichi, backed by his high approval rating, will step forward to dissolve the Diet and hold a general election in early spring after the budget is approved.</p>
<p> While there are widespread calls for an early dissolution of the Diet, especially among the unsuccessful Diet members, Mr. Takaichi continues to deny it, saying that measures to deal with high prices must come first and that he has no time to think about dissolving the Diet while he is working hard on the issues at hand.</p>
<p> In light of the political schedule, the unified local elections will be held in the spring of &#8217;27 and the LDP presidential election in the fall of the same year.&#8217; The year 2014 is a period in which there will be no major national elections and Takaichi will have a free hand to exercise his right to dissolve the Diet.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> While PM Takaichi&#8217;s approval rating has remained high, the party&#8217;s approval rating has not recovered. Seven LDP candidates were eliminated in last year&#8217;s Katsushika ward assembly election, and in the Miyagi prefectural gubernatorial election, a LDP-affiliated governor thought he would win a landslide victory, but he narrowly won. In the mayoral election in Mino, Gifu Prefecture, an LDP-affiliated candidate also lost the election. Although Takaichi&#8217;s popularity is alive and well, his party has not been able to recover its popularity because it has not been able to dispel the image of &#8220;politics and money.</span><span class="strongInContent"> Even if he can regain some ground, it will be impossible for him to win a single-seat majority. Therefore, we should not dissolve the House of Representatives at this time,&#8217; said journalist Tetsuo Suzuki.</span></p>
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<p> The House of Representatives has just barely maintained its majority, but the House of Councillors remains with a minority ruling party. Even the passage of a single bill requires the cooperation of the opposition parties. The Upper House election will not be held until the summer of 2008, and the coalition needs to expand in order to stabilize the government.</p>
<p> To this end, they are trying to capture the National Democratic Party of Japan (KDP), which shares the same proactive fiscal stance and has strong policy affinities with the opposition parties. Last December, the KDP agreed to raise its signature policy, the &#8220;barrier to annual income tax&#8221; to 1.78 million yen, which is an income tax exemption. The agreement was a prerequisite for the approval of the budget for fiscal year 2014.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Mr. Takaichi wants to bring in the KDP, but..."></div>
<h3>Is the KDP untrustworthy?</h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The KDP had two choices: to be the flagship of the opposition party&#8217;s rally or to support the Liberal Democratic Party and realize its policies, and it chose the latter. The KDP succeeded in gaining momentum for the party by realizing its signature policies, such as gasoline tax cuts and the &#8216;annual income wall.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The KDP has been pushing and pulling while remaining in opposition, changing its attitude for each important bill under the slogan of &#8220;policy-oriented,&#8221; in which it consults with the ruling party on a policy-by-policy basis. However, agreeing to the budget bill for fiscal year &#8217;26 is as good as joining the ruling party, and we wonder how long we can continue with our sphinx-like stance&#8221; (Suzuki, above).</span></p>
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<p> Tomoko Yoshino, 60, president of Rengo, the National Democratic Party of Japan (NDP)&#8217;s supporting body, expressed her disapproval of the party&#8217;s entry into the coalition government. Members of industrial unions affiliated with RENGO are reluctant to join the ruling party.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> If the people join the coalition, the Diet will be stable, but it&#8217;s not always a good thing,&#8221; said Tomoko Yano, 60, president of Rengo. But it won&#8217;t be all good.</span></p>
<p> Takashi Endo, 57, a longtime Diet negotiator who served as chairman of the Restoration Association&#8217;s National Diet Committee and now supports Mr. Takaichi as an aide to the prime minister, echoed these sentiments.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Moriyama (Yutaka Moriyama, 80, former secretary general of the DPJ), who was a negotiator with the KDP during the Ishiba administration, said, &#8220;I was cheated again. I was cheated many times. He said, &#8216;Those people (the National Democratic Party of Japan) change what they say.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Moriyama is a mild-mannered and tenacious person, so he managed to make adjustments, but the current executive committee doesn&#8217;t know how that happened. The people who knew about it back then are now in the non-mainstream camp, so the more the current mainstream communicates with the public, the more they will be at a loss.</span></p>
<p> On January 28, the Takaichi administration will mark 100 days since its inauguration. The LDP is forced to make concessions and is frustrated by the fact that it has to look out for its coalition partner, the Restoration Association of Japan, and the National Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Despite high approval ratings, the LDP is likely to continue to manage the city in an unstable manner.</p>
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 Daisuke Iwasaki

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 At a meeting held at the end of last year, Mr. Takaichi reportedly coldly dismissed an unsuccessful councilor who asked him to "dissolve the Diet while the approval rate is high. The Takaichi administration boasts of an exceptionally high approval rating, but will it take the initiative to dissolve the House of Representatives this year?

A Strong Word to the Failed Councilors&#8230; Why &#8220;Prime Minister Takaichi&#8221; wants to step forward for a &#8220;dissolution general election&#8221; against the backdrop of high approval ratings, but cannot do so.

A Strong Word to the Failed Councilors… Why “Prime Minister Takaichi” wants to step forward for a “dissolution general election” against the backdrop of high approval ratings, but cannot do so.

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