Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is preparing for the upper house elections scheduled to commence on Sunday, and it is hinted that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will emerge victorious—although not many citizens eagerly look forward to this hypothetical outcome.
If the LDP take home majority votes, as noted from polls taken in recent times, Kishida would have what he required to solidify control of the party for the upcoming three years, which is fairly enough time to influence the country with his diplomatic changes before the next election, possibly replacing the famous Abenomics set by the former Prime Minister with his own road to economic success.
That is why the upper house, albeit the lesser force of the two chambers belonging to the parliament, is a necessity for the votes it issues will be a considerable set of power for the ruling bloc. If the government opted to sit on their hands this time, it would leave Kishida vulnerable to increased competitiveness from hawk-eyed individuals in the stronghold LDP.
The past few months have seen the Japanese yen in turmoil, as hiking rates in global commodity sectors have had the cumulative result of incredible sky-high prices in food, electricity, fuel and generally the nation’s cost of living.
This generation has never seen such a drastic inflation peak, so voters remain spooked by the slightest rate hikes after being used to the typical wages and lifestyle.
Japan’s LNG—or liquified natural gas recorded more than a significant third of the country’s electricity production. This sector has been having a hard time coping with the lack of Russian supplies after their recent moves. Japan’s primary energy dependency fell on crude oil.
Some countermeasure ideals were birthed out of the situation though, like the plan to cushion the burst from oil rate surges through subsidies to petrol wholesalers and similar damage control methods.
Currently, 2.7 trillion yen ($20 billion) has been allotted by the government as additional expenses to soften the blow.
Kishida has nodded his approval to go ahead and do what’s necessary but hasn’t unveiled further briefing. This budget motive will be backed up by bonds, which may consequently pressure public debt to more than double the weight of GPD—gross domestic product.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, China has been steadily gaining favour and this matter is a newfound concern to Japan. Kishida had reassured the country that he intended to heighten the defence budget in retaliation to what he identified as a preventive measure before the situation grew bigger. He has not commented on the increase in the defence budget in the foreseen fiscal year or how largely funded this so-called increase would be. This year’s amount is 5.7 trillion yen, and it is hardly a quarter of China’s spending regime.
After the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in 2011, a part of the nuclear reactors that have been gathering dust may soon be put into good use.
In more in-depth view, surging energy rates and the looming power shortages amid a heatwave that struck recently have had people believe the government will get the nuclear reactors kicking again soon enough.
Currently, ten nuclear reactors are functional and not faulty. In 2011 and before it was fifty-four in number.
In June, Kishida vowed to make better use of nuclear energy, so long as the safety was assured to avoid a mishap like a decade ago.
As for the state of the central bank, Kishida’s opinion may be the deciding factor for the bank staying on its neutral pace or changing the track after several periods of extremely lenient policy that has affected the yen and received backlash from the citizens as the cost of living soared.