Komeito 公明党 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Tetsuo Saito |
| Deputy Leaders | Toshiko Takeya Kazuyoshi Akaba Shigeki Sato |
| Secretary-General | Makoto Nishida |
| Councilors Leader | Masaaki Taniai |
| Founded | 7 November 1998; 27 years ago (1998-11-07) |
| Merger of | Kōmeitō (1962) New Peace Party Reform Club [ja] |
| Headquarters | 17 Minamimoto-machi,Shinjuku,Tokyo 160-0012 |
| Newspaper | Komei Shimbun |
| Membership(2024) | 450,000[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre[A][4] |
| Religion | Buddhism (Soka Gakkai)[5] (de facto) |
| National affiliation | LDP–Komeito coalition (1999–2025) |
| Colors | |
| Slogan | 大衆と共に[c][6] ('With the Public') |
| Councillors | 21 / 248 |
| Representatives | 24 / 465 |
| Prefectural assembly members | 206 / 2,644 |
| Municipal assembly members[7] | 2,667 / 29,135 |
| Website | |
| |
^ A: Komeito is also sometimes described ascentre-left[9] orright-wing.[12] | |
Komeito (公明党,Kōmeitō), formerlyNew Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simplyKomei, is apolitical party in Japan affiliated with theSoka Gakkai religious movement. It is generally consideredcentrist andsocially conservative. From 1999 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2025, it served in government as thejunior coalition partner of theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Komeito was founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai,Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. In 1993 and 1994, Komeito joined the non-LDP governments ofMorihiro Hosokawa andTsutomu Hata. With the collapse of the Hata government in 1994, Komeito split into New Kōmei Party and Kōmei; the New Kōmei Party merged with other smaller opposition parties to establish theNew Frontier Party (NFP). After the dissolution of the NFP in 1997, some former New Kōmei Party established the New Peace Party, which merged with Kōmei in 1998 to establish the New Komeito. In 1999, the party entered into a coalition with LDP, serving in the government until the coalition lost power in2009. In2012, the coalition regained power. In 2014 the party changed its English name back to Komeito. In 2025, Komeito ended its alliance with the LDP.
A self-proclaimed party of "humanitarian socialism", Komeito has been described as being closely affiliated with Soka Gakkai. During its alliance with the LDP, Komeito acted as a moderating force over security and military policies. In foreign policy, the party advocates for a more pacifist diplomacy and closer relations with China.Tetsuo Saito has been the president of the party since 9 November 2024. Komeito currently has 24 elected deputies in theHouse of Representatives and 21 deputies in theHouse of Councillors.
Komeito began as the Political Federation for Clean Government in 1961, but held its inaugural convention as Komeito on 17 November 1964,[13][14] when it was founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai,Daisaku Ikeda.[15][16] The three characters 公明党 have the approximate meanings of "public/government" (公 kō), "light/brightness" (明 mei), and "political party" (党 tō). The combination "kōmei" (公明) is usually taken to mean "justice".[17][18] Komeito's predecessor party,Kōmeitō, was formed in 1962, but it had begun in 1954 as the Kōmei Political League. It lasted until it merged with the NKP in 1998.[19]
In 1957, a group of Young Men's Division members campaigning for a Soka Gakkai candidate in an Osaka Upper House by-election were arrested for distributing money, cigarettes, and caramels at supporters' residences, in violation of election law, and on July 3 of that year, at the beginning of an event memorialized as the "Osaka Incident,"Daisaku Ikeda was arrested in Osaka. He was taken into custody in his capacity as Soka Gakkai's Youth Division Chief of Staff for overseeing activities that constituted violations of election law. He spent two weeks in jail and appeared in court forty-eight times before he was cleared of all charges in January 1962.[20]
In 1968, fourteen Soka Gakkai members were convicted of forging absentee ballots in Shinjuku, and eight were sentenced to prison forelectoral fraud. In the 1960s it was widely criticized for violating theseparation of church and state, and in February 1970 all three major Japanese newspapers printed editorials demanding that the party reorganize. It eventually broke apart based on promises to segregate from Soka Gakkai.[21][22][23]
In the 1980s,Shimbun Akahata discovered that many Soka Gakkai members were rewarding acquaintances with presents in return for Komeito votes and thatOkinawa residents had changed their addresses to elect Komeito politicians.[24]
Kōmeitō joined the Hosokawa and Hata anti-LDP coalition cabinets in 1993 and 1994. After the collapse of the anti-LDP and anti-JCP governments (非自民・非共産連立政権) and the electoral and campaign finance reforms of 1994, the Kōmeitō split in December 1994: The "New Kōmei Party" (公明新党,Kōmei Shintō) joined theNew Frontier Party (NFP) a few days later in an attempt to unify the splintered opposition.[25] The other group, Kōmei (公明), continued to exist as a separate party. After the dissolution of the NFP in December 1997, former Kōmeitō members from the NFP founded two new groups: the "New Peace Party" (新党平和,Shintō Heiwa) and the "Dawn Club" (黎明クラブ,Reimei Club) in the House of Councillors, but some ex-Kōmeitō politicians such as Shōzō Azuma followed Ichirō Ozawa into theLiberal Party. The Reimei Club merged into the New Peace Party a few weeks later in January 1998. Finally, in November 1998, Kōmei and New Peace Party merged to re-establish Kōmeitō (referred to in English now as "New Komeito" – the party's name is justKōmeitō as before the 1994 split).
TheJapan Echo alleged in 1999 that Soka Gakkai distributed fliers to local branches describing how to abuse thejūminhyō residence registration system in order to generate a large number of votes for Komeito candidates in specific districts.[26]
The current conservative, more moderate, and centrist party was formed in 1998, in a merger of Kōmei and the New Peace Party. Since then it has joined coalition with the rulingLiberal Democratic Party (LDP), which needs Komeito to maintain a majority in the Diet (especially in the House of Councillors which the LDP lost majority since 1989), and did well in the 2000 and 2001 parliamentary elections.
The LDP-Liberal coalition expanded to include the New Komeito Party in October 1999.[27] New Komeito has been (and continues to be) a coalition partner in the Government of Japan since 1999 (excluding 2009–2011 when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power). As such, New Komeito supported a (temporary) change to Japan's "no-war constitution" in order for Japan todeploy troops in support of the2003 invasion of Iraq.[28]
In the2003 Japanese general election and2004 Japanese House of Councillors election, the NKP did well, thanks to an extremely committed and well-organized voter base coming from Soka Gakkai. The party shares its support base with the LDP, made up of white-collar bureaucrats and rural populations, but also gained support from religious leaders. However, on 27 July 2005, NKP's Secretary-General said that his party would consider forming a coalition government with theDemocratic Party of Japan (DPJ) if the DPJ gained a majority in the House of Representatives. On 8 August 2005, then-Prime Minister and the president of LDPJunichiro Koizumi dissolved theLower House and called for a general election, due to the rejection on some of the members of LDP for efforts to privatizeJapan Post. The incumbent LDP-New Komeito coalition won a large majority in the2005 general election.
Natsuo Yamaguchi became the party's leader on 8 September 2009 after the party and their coalition partner LDP suffered a major defeat in the2009 general election, become part of the opposition for the first time since 1999. New Komeito lost ten seats, including that of party leaderAkihiro Ota and general secretaryKazuo Kitagawa. On 8 September 2009, Yamaguchi replaced Ota as president of New Komeito.[29]
In thegeneral election on 16 December 2012, the LDP/Komeito coalition secured asupermajority and came back into government.[30] The former party chief Akihiro Ota (Ohta) is currently Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.[31] The party also gained seats in thegeneral election in 2014. In September 2014 the party changed its English name from New Komeito back to Komeito.[32][33]
In July 2015, Komeito backed Prime MinisterShinzo Abe's push torevise the Constitution through theLegislation for Peace and Security in order to "give Japan's military limited powers to fight in foreign conflicts. The principal aims of the bills were to allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces to come to the aid of allied nations under attack (even if Japan itself was not), to expand their scope to support international peacekeeping operations, and to allow for Japan to take on a greater share of security responsibilities as part of theUS-Japan Alliance.[34][35][36]
On March 11, 2019, a project team of Komeito submitted proposals to Foreign MinisterTaro Kono for an international agreement to regulaterobotic weapons,[37][38] calling on Japan to build global consensus for a "political declaration or a code of conduct, within the framework of theConvention on Certain Conventional Weapons".[39]
On October 10, 2025, Komeito chief representativeTetsuo Saito announced that it would leave the ruling coalition, over disagreements with new LDP presidentSanae Takaichi.[40]
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A self-proclaimed party of "humanitarian socialism",[41] Komeito's declared mission is to pioneer "people-centered politics, a politics based on ahumanitarianism, that treats human life with the utmost respect and care".[42]
Religious scholar and political analyst Masaru Satō explains that in postwar Japan there were two major parties, theLiberal Democratic Party representing financial interests and large corporations and theJapan Socialist Party largely advocating the interests of trade unions and the working class. There was no single party that represented people who belonged to neither, such as shop owners and housewives, among others. Komeito was thus able to capture the support of this constituency.[43]
Komeito regards theSoka Gakkai as a "major electoral constituency",[44] having formally separated from the religious group and revised both its platform and regulations in 1970 to reflect a "secular orientation".[45]: 117 Observers continue to describe Komeito as the Soka Gakkai's "political arm",[46][47][48][49] however, and critics contend the relationship violates the separation of religion and politics enshrined in Article 20 of theJapanese Constitution.[50] The leadership and financing of the two groups are currently said to be independent.[45]: 123–27 Both groups report having occasional liaison meetings, characterizing them as informational and "open to the media".[44][51] Numerous Japanese religious groups have established political parties in Japan, but statistics scholar Petter Lindgren states that "None have, however, been more successful than Soka Gakkai."[52]
Domestically, the party proposals include reduction of the central government andbureaucracy, increased transparency in public affairs, and increased local (prefectural) autonomy with theprivate sector playing an increased role. Komeito also supports reducing the consumption tax rate, reducing school fees and offering child allowances.[53]
In accordance with its public affairs transparency platform, it was reported that since September 2016, the Komeito conducted independent analyses for possible environmental contamination of the proposedToyosu market site.[54] The Komeito officially raised its environmental concerns later regarding Toyosu market during the 5 October 2016 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Session. In response, the newly appointed Tokyo Governor,Yuriko Koike, cited possible disciplinary action towards those responsible for the Toyosu project.[55]
Komeito embracesmarket liberalism to some extent, but it also emphasizessocial welfare,[56] and officially puts forward "Humanitarian socialism" as its main ideology.[41]
In contrast with the LDP, Komeito has generally been more cautious about efforts to expand the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF).[57] At its founding, the party adhered to absolute pacifism, rejecting both the constitutionality of the JSDF and the military alliance with the US.[53] Softening its views later, Komeito backed LDP proposals, such as a 2004 vote to dispatch the JSDF to support allied operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and prime ministerShinzo Abe's revision of the security laws to expand military powers through the Legislation for Peace and Security in July 2015,[34] although it did manage to moderate the policy on the latter.[53][58]
On 24 April 2019, joint task force efforts with its coalition partner[59][60][61] resulted in the passing of a bill mandating reparations and having the coalition government issue a formal apology to sterilization victims of the defunctEugenic Protection Act, thus to advance human rights awareness in the wake of lawsuits[62][63] related to the history ofeugenics in Japan.[64][65][66][67]
Despite the party's conservative ideology, it supports the protection and expansion ofLGBT rights.[68][69][70]
With regard to foreign policy, the Komeito wishes to eliminatenuclear arms and Japanese involvement inarmed conflict in general. Komeito supports maintaining theJapan's military alliance with the United States.[57]
The party promotes closer relations betweenChina and Japan. According to aForeign Policy article in 2021, "Of all parties in the Diet, Komeito enjoys the strongest and most stable relationship with China."[53] The pro-China policy began in the early 1960s, shortly after the party's formation. At the time, the Japanese government considered its relationship with China resolved, as it had signed a peace treaty with theRepublic of China (ROC). After the end of the Pacific War,Kuomintang leaderChiang Kai-shek advocated a policy of "repaying grievances with virtue" and instructed various parties to ensure the safe return of Japanese soldiers. This was a stark contrast to the Soviet Union's actions, where over 55,000 Japanese are said to have died during theirSiberian Internment. Many politicians felt a sense of gratitude for Chiang's actions, and as a result, the Japanese government did not engage with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and theChinese Communist Party. To break this impasse,Liao Chengzhi was tasked with a diplomatic mission to Japan.[71] His Japanese was nearly indistinguishable from a native speaker, and he had a deep understanding of how to influence the Japanese psyche. His efforts went beyond the ruling LDP and extended to Soka Gakkai, Japan's largest religious organization, and cultural figures associated with it, such asSawako Ariyoshi. These efforts bore fruit in 1968, when Soka Gakkai PresidentDaisaku Ikeda read what became known as the "Ikeda Proposal" in front of 20,000 believers. He called on the Japanese government to open dialogue with the Chinese Communist Party and even criticized the United States, stating that China's exclusion from the UN was due to a "clever plot" by America.[57] Komeito's then leaderYoshikatsu Takeiri's negotiations with Chinese PremierZhou Enlai in the 1970s played a critical role in the eventual normalization of relations between the People's Republic of China and Japan in 1972.[53] The party has advocated for friendlier policies towards China, and has maintained communications with the country even during moments when the relationships between the two countries have been strained.[53] In 2008, when PresidentHu Jintao visited Japan, he met with Ikeda and highly praised the "Ikeda Proposal" from 1968.[57]
The party reportedly advocates for improved ties with China and South Korea in light ofJapan's historical war crimes in both territories. In 2013, the party's chief representative Natsuo Yamaguchi praised Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision not to visitYasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are enshrined.[72] On thecomfort women issue, in 2016 the party reportedly advocated for removingYoshitaka Sakurada from a leadership position after Sakurada denied that the women were forced to work.[73]
The party organ of Komeito is theKomei Shinbun. It is published by the Komei Organ Paper Committee,[74][75] and has also published a regional Hokkaido edition in the past.[76]
Leadership as of 9 November 2024:[77]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Permanent Advisors | Natsuo Yamaguchi |
| Keiichi Ishii | |
| Leader | Tetsuo Saito |
| Deputy Leaders | Toshiko Takeya |
| Kazuyoshi Akaba | |
| Shigeki Sato | |
| Secretary General | Makoto Nishida |
| Chairman of the Central Executive Committee | Kazuyoshi Akaba |
| Chairman of the Policy Research Council | Mitsunari Okamoto |
| Chairman of the Caucus in the House of Councillors | Masaaki Taniai |
| Election Strategy Committee Chairman | Nobuhiro Miura |
| Diet Affairs Committee Chairman | Hidemichi Satō |
| Election | Leader | No. of candidates | Seats | Position | Constituency votes | PR Block votes | Status | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | ± | Share | No. | Share | No. | Share | |||||
| Komei era | |||||||||||
| 1996 | Komei faction | 51 | 42 / 511 |  9 | 8.2% | seeNew Frontier Party | Opposition (until 1998) | ||||
| Governing coalition (since 1998) | |||||||||||
| New Komeito era | |||||||||||
| 2000 | Takenori Kanzaki | 74 | 31 / 480 | 11 | 6.4% |  3rd | 1,231,753 | 2.02% | 7,762,032 | 12.97% | Governing coalition |
| 2003 | 55 | 34 / 480 | 3 | 7.0% |  3rd | 886,507 | 1.49% | 8,733,444 | 14.78% | Governing coalition | |
| 2005 | 52 | 31 / 480 | 3 | 6.4% | 3rd | 981,105 | 1.4% | 8,987,620 | 13.3% | Governing coalition | |
| 2009 | Akihiro Ota | 51 | 21 / 480 | 10 | 4.3% | 3rd | 782,984 | 1.11% | 8,054,007 | 11.45% | Opposition |
| 2012 | Natsuo Yamaguchi | 54 | 31 / 480 | 10 | 6.4% | 4th | 885,881 | 1.49% | 7,116,474 | 11.90% | Governing coalition |
| Komeito era | |||||||||||
| 2014 | Natsuo Yamaguchi | 51 | 35 / 475 | 4 | 7.3% | 4th | 765,390 | 1.45% | 7,314,236 | 13.71% | Governing coalition |
| 2017 | 53 | 29 / 465 | 6 | 6.2% | 4th | 832,453 | 1.50% | 6,977,712 | 12.51% | Governing coalition | |
| 2021 | 53 | 32 / 465 | 3 | 6.8% | 4th | 872,931 | 1.52% | 7,114,282 | 12.38% | Governing coalition | |
| 2024 | Keiichi Ishii | 50 | 24 / 465 | 8 | 5.2% | 6th | 730,401 | 1.35% | 5,964,415 | 10.93% | Governing minority (until 2025) |
| Opposition (since 2025) | |||||||||||
| Election | Leader | Seats | Nationwide[d] | Prefecture | Status | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total[e] | Contested | Number | % | Number | % | |||
| Komei era | ||||||||
| 1995 | Tomio Fujii | 11 / 252 | 0 / 126 | Did not participate in election | Minority | |||
| 1998 | Toshiko Hamayotsu | 22 / 252 | 9 / 126 | 7,748,301 | 13.80% | 1,843,479 | 3.30% | Minority (until 1999) |
| Governing majority coalition (since 1999) | ||||||||
| New Komeito era | ||||||||
| 2001 | Takenori Kanzaki | 23 / 247 | 13 / 121 | 8,187,804 | 14.96% | 3,468,664 | 6.38% | Governing majority coalition |
| 2004 | 24 / 242 | 11 / 121 | 8,621,265 | 15.41% | 2,161,764 | 3.85% | Governing majority coalition | |
| 2007 | Akihiro Ota | 20 / 242 | 9 / 121 | 7,765,329 | 13.18% | 3,534,672 | 5.96% | Governing minority coalition (until 2009) |
| Minority (since 2009) | ||||||||
| 2010 | Natsuo Yamaguchi | 19 / 242 | 9 / 121 | 7,639,432 | 13.07% | 2,265,818 | 3.88% | Minority (until 2012) |
| Governing minority coalition (since 2012) | ||||||||
| 2013 | 20 / 242 | 11 / 121 | 7,568,082 | 14.22% | 2,724,447 | 5.13% | Governing majority coalition | |
| Komeito era | ||||||||
| 2016 | Natsuo Yamaguchi | 25 / 242 | 14 / 121 | 7,572,960 | 13.52% | 4,263,422 | 7.54% | Governing majority coalition |
| 2019 | 28 / 245 | 14 / 124 | 6,536,336 | 13.05% | 3,913,359 | 7.77% | Governing majority coalition | |
| 2022 | 27 / 248 | 13 / 125 | 6,181,432 | 11.66% | 3,600,490 | 6.77% | Governing majority coalition | |
| 2025 | Tetsuo Saito | 21 / 248 | 8 / 125 | 5,210,569 | 8.80% | 3,175,790 | 5.37% | Governing minority coalition (until 2025) |
| Opposition (since 2025) | ||||||||
... Because of this political strength, the Liberal Democratic Party has in recent years included the moderate to socially conservative Komeito Party in coalition governments.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, the low-profile leader of the centrist Komeito party
... 結党以来のスローガン『大衆とともに』の精神こそ、 ...
The LDP will be ruling in coalition with another right-wing party—the Komeito.
Other smaller parties include Komeito (the party officially became known as New Komeito in 1998), a party that Soka Gakkai formed in 1964 from its precursor, the Komei Political League.
創価学会を支持母体とした中道政党。人間性社会主義の実現を掲げている。 ［藤井 正・五十嵐仁］
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The Komeito severed its organizational ties to SG in 1970, but has nonetheless remained the political arm of Sokka Gakkai in Japan
even today, the Clean Government Party can hardly be called more than the "political arm" of Soka Gakkai
...Komeito, a political affiliate of Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect.
After its religious orientation was criticized by journalists and questioned in the Diet around 1970, Komeito declared that it would follow the constitutional principle of the separation between religion and state, officially separating Soka Gakkai and Komeito. But this issue continues even today as one of the targets of criticism against Soka Gakkai and Komeito.
協議会では、公明党から、党の方針、態度、決定等について説明があり、それに対して学会が意見、要望を述べる。[At the council, Komeito explains the party's policies, attitudes, decisions, etc., and the Gakkai gives opinions and requests.]
Observers can expect Kishida to avoid difficult debates over security policy, expand social welfare spending, and consider only limited social reforms to satisfy Komeito.
Bracketed numbers indicate numbers of seats in theHouse of Representatives (Lower House) of theNational Diet immediately after the2024 general election | |||||
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