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2014/10/29
Café Democrats meeting held at party headquarters
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On October 29, a meeting of Café Democrats, the DPJ’s briefing and exchange forum for the diplomatic community, was held at party headquarters. At the start of the meeting, DPJ President Banri Kaieda welcomed the assembled diplomats and introduced recently-appointed Secretary General Yukio Edano, explaining that the appointments of Edano and others to the party executive, had been made with the recognition that it was important for the DPJ to be proactive in promoting its policies.
Edano explained the DPJ’s basic position, stating, “In contrast to the Abe administration, the DPJ is engaging in policies that will once again create a robust middle class here in Japan.” He went on to explain the difference between the DPJ’s policies and those of the ruling LDP, saying that in today’s rapidly ageing Japan, the DPJ would aim to achieve a society with as few inequalities as possible, through continued support for people’s daily lives, by for example, promoting youth employment and enabling parents to combine work and child-rearing.
Edano also commented on foreign and security policy, stressing: “We believe that Japan should contribute to global peace and stability, and maintain and strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, and so on these points we basically agree with the LDP, but the gradual shifting of the goalposts on changing the interpretation of the Constitution [by permitting the use of the right to collective self-defense] will lead to huge problems in future. It is possible to strengthen Japan-U.S. relations, and make effective contributions to our national security and the peace of East-Asia without this gradual drip-drip-drip erosion of the Constitutional interpretation.”
The assembled diplomats asked questions about such issues as how opposition parties in democracies should engage in diplomacy, the balance of wealth in a globalized world, and what strategies the DPJ is taking to engage Japanese youth in politics, and lively discussions took place.
The meeting was also attended by International Department Director-General Yukihisa Fujita, former Director-General Kaname Tajima (Next Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Vice Directors-General Michihiro Ishibashi, Hiroe Makiyama, and Misako Yasui. The next meeting of Café Democrats is planned for mid-November.
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