1. Challenges Facing Contemporary Japanese Society

(1)Impact of Population Decline, Low Birthrate, and Aging Society

At present, Japan is facing a declining population, a low birthrate, and an aging society to an extent never previously experienced in the international community. According to medium-term projections by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR), Japan's population will fall below 100 million by the mid-2050s and will further decline by approximately 10 million over the subsequent decade. Conversely, Japan’s aging rate continues to rise, and according to "Regional Population Projections for Japan (2017 Estimates)" by NIPSSR, the aging rate (moderate-range projection) will be 35.3% in 2040, which means that more than one in three Japanese people will be elderly.
The labor force will decline from 65.77 million in 2020 to 54.6 million in 2040, according to 2018 estimates by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (zero growth and labor participation status scenario).
The impact of population decline is not limited to issues related to economic growth, tax, and social security, but is also directly related to social and regional issues such as the increase of so-called "genkai jichitai" marginal communities (those in danger of disappearing due to depopulation). In addition to the challenges of preserving infrastructure in island and mountainous areas, which have been previously acknowledged, the decline of these towns themselves is expected to become even more pronounced as a nationwide issue. This decline is not solely addressable through municipal mergers; it encompasses the diminishing vitality of towns due to population decline and the loss of social functions based on mutual assistance, such as residents' patrols and disaster preparedness.

(2)Population Concentration in Tokyo and Decline of Rural Areas

This situation is further exacerbated by the reality of population concentration in Tokyo. Since the abolition of feudal Japan in the Meiji era (1868-1912), Japan's centralized government structure has resulted in the concentration of political, economic, and cultural centers in Tokyo, creating a powerful suction effect that is now draining the population out of regional cities.
This has caused an exodus of businesses and young people from the regions in search of jobs and cultural interaction, and the development of information and transportation networks has further accelerated this flow.
This unipolar concentration of population in Tokyo not only accelerates regional decline but also increases the risk of Japan as a whole experiencing dysfunction in the event of a large-scale catastrophic disaster, such as an earthquake occurring directly beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Area or the disruption of capital functions due to terrorism.

(3)Loss of Industrial Competitiveness Due to Regulation

The adverse effects of this centralized system have cast a significant shadow over Japan's industrial competitiveness. Uniform nationwide regulatory administration, handed down from the seat of government in Kasumigaseki in central Tokyo, has inhibited private companies and regional governments from freely taking on new challenges, making it difficult to improve labor productivity and create new industries. While nominal GDP in developed nations has shown a growth rate of 200% over the last quarter-century, Japan's growth has been lagging behind at 114%. (Calculated based on IMF World Economic Outlook Databases, comparing the period from 1993 to 2018)

(4)Delays in Parliamentary Discussions Due to Ambiguity in Division of Roles Between National and Local Governments

In Japan, where the division of roles and responsibilities among the national government, regional governments, and local governments remains ambiguous, it is perhaps inevitable that discussions on such fundamental issues as national defense, social security, and constitutional reform have been slow to make progress.
As evidenced by the fact that the Prime Minister of the country is asked to answer questions about children on waiting lists for childcare services or nursing schools in regional communities, the political structure of Japan is such that even the tiniest details are debated in the National Diet, and local governments are forced to follow the lead of the central government.
Discussions in the National Diet include not only crucial national issues but also regional issues of limited scope, and not enough time is devoted to important matters forming the nation’s very foundation, including diplomacy, national defense, macroeconomics, and social security.

(5)Threats to Japan's Security

In recent years, China, Russia, North Korea, and other countries have been accelerating ahead in ways that seriously affect Japan's national security. The issue of abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea, which has yet to be resolved, is not a matter of the past but rather an ongoing criminal activity, and is a serious problem that threatens the sovereignty of Japan.
Moreover, a succession of Chinese and Russian aircraft and vessels have been trespassing into Japan's airspace and territorial waters, in response to which Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have scrambled aircraft more than 900 times annually in recent years. North Korea regularly conducts test launches of ballistic missiles, and in some cases these missiles fall into Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Acquisition of researchers in the fields of science and technology and espionage activities such as cyber-attacks continue to be conducted intensively around the world, and countermeasures in these areas are becoming more and more important as globalization and digital transformation (DX) progress further.
In order for Japan to protect its sovereignty and the lives and property of its citizens amid such international circumstances, it is imperative that it establishes a realistic defense system, including legislative provisions, and that it maintains an effective deterrence capability, without limiting its defensive activities to conventional diplomatic channels.
The Japan Innovation Party will not shy away from these realities, but will rather create a new Japan for future generations.

2. An Ideal Society and the Philosophy of the Party

(1)Philosophy of the Party

The party's philosophy is: "It will not be possible to achieve an affluent life for the people simply through extension of the political systems of the past."
This is the firm conclusion that we, the Japan Innovation Party, have reached after facing the reality of Japan's lost 30 years of politics and economy.
For this reason, we, the Japanese people, need a new political force that will break with the conventions of the past and enrich Japan's future through the realization of a new politics.
We have established the Japan Innovation Party with the aim of changing the shape of this nation from the regional level.
The Japan Innovation Party is a decentralized political party that differs in essence from existing centralized parties. It has a completely different organizational structure from Japan’s existing pyramid-shaped political parties, each ruled by their headquarters in Tokyo. Regional lawmakers and leaders directly participate in national decision-making, and decentralization is promoted by sharing of roles.
With its philosophy of "self-reliant individuals, self-reliant regions, and a self-reliant nation," the Japan Innovation Party will move head-on to address the essential problems facing Japan, and through concrete and realistic proposals and constructive discussions, will resolve social issues and enrich people's lives as its fundamental guiding principle.

(2)The Japan Innovation Party Vision for Japan's Future Society

• Regionally-Led Reform of Governance Structures

  As lifestyles continue to diversify and the issues facing each region become increasingly fragmented, problems have emerged: uniform policies based on a centralized system have led to inefficient government and have failed to resolve issues in line with local conditions.
  In light of this situation, the Japan Innovation Party believes that the authority of central ministries and agencies should be largely transferred to regional governments, and that Japan's governance structure should be shifted from a centralized system to a decentralized system in which regional communities can decide their own affairs.
  Transferring a set of authority and financial resources from the national government to regional governments is the most democratic and efficient form of regional autonomy in modern society, allowing each region, with its various issues and different geographical, economic, and cultural backgrounds, to independently make policy decisions in line with its own characteristics and issues, and to operate autonomously with its own financial resources.
  By realizing these fundamental changes in governance structure through the active political efforts of regional governments, we hope to achieve our goal of "self-reliant regions" in the future.

• Strengthening Regional Government and Parliamentary Functions

  Strengthening regional governments will optimize policies for each region, at the same time helping to strengthen the functions of Japan’s National Diet.
  Allowing regional governments to analyze at their own discretion the strengths and challenges of their own regions and to select policies that are truly of the highest priority, without being subject to the common nationwide restrictions imposed by the central government, will serve to eliminate the uniform, inefficient policies of the past, enabling residents’ services, industrial development, and truly necessary regulation tailored to the unique characteristics of each region.
  The pursuit of affluence through free will in each region, driven by creativity and ingenuity, can be expected to push Japan's inter-city competition to a higher level, improve quality of life for residents, and bring about further diversity and affluence.
  After transferring authority to regional governments, the central government's functions will be limited to the essential and most important roles of the state, such as national defense and diplomacy, taxation and social security, and the formulation and revision of the Constitution.

• Friendly Rivalry Through Free Competition, and the Establishment of a Generous Safety Net

  In 1989, 14 Japanese companies ranked among the world's top 20 companies in terms of market capitalization. Today, however, no Japanese company numbers among the world's top 20 companies, having fallen behind not only the U.S.A. and China, but also Switzerland, South Korea, and Taiwan.
  The Japan Innovation Party believes that we need to break away from old notions of governmental control of private companies through strong regulation, and that the role of the government lies in creating an environment that actively encourages free economic activity, organizational reform, and companies actively seeking challenges in new fields of industry. We believe that accelerating friendly rivalry among companies through free competition will drive concentrations of people and money into growth areas, and that restoring the international competitiveness of Japanese companies will lead to the recovery of Japan’s strength as a nation as well as better lives for the Japanese people.
  At the same time, a generous safety net should be established for working individuals to realize a society in which everyone can take on challenges in a fair way, and at the same time, a society in which people can try again and again, even if they fail.
  Rather than a safety net such as the current welfare system, which is difficult to escape once entered, we are proposing free vocational training and recurrent education to enable people to take on new challenges, and formulating a guaranteed minimum income system allowing each citizen to realize his or her full potential as an "self-reliant individual" in an affluent society as many times as he or she wishes.

• Realizing a Sustainable Social Security System

  Much of Japan's social security system was created during the period of high economic growth, based on the premise of lifetime employment and a society with a growing population and numerous children—a society that is far removed from Japan’s society of today.
  Pension systems with uniform payments based on age and a levy system in which the working-age population supports the elderly do not function satisfactorily in today's society, and many citizens holds great concerns about their future.
  The Japan Innovation Party aims to break away from the old political system that only slightly rearranges and adjusts these systems, instead seeking to fundamentally re-create the systems to better suit modern society.
  In today's society, employment patterns have become more complex and unstable due to the diversification of work styles and the expansion of job-sharing, etc., and in Japan’s modern demographic composition, the elderly population has greatly expanded in comparison to the working-age population due to Japan’s declining birthrate and aging population. Wealth has accumulated unevenly among Japan’s population, and the expansion of financial incomes has widened existing disparities, with the relative poverty rate among Japan’s population now in excess of 15%.
  In light of these circumstances, the Japan Innovation Party will undertake comprehensive reform of tax and social security systems in order to equalize benefits and burdens, alleviate income disparities, and build a sustainable social security system that is in line with the realities of people's lives.

• A Japan That Demonstrates Leadership in the International Community

  As Japan relies heavily on foreign imports for most of its resources, stabilizing its supply of resources—including food, energy, and strategic commodities such as semiconductors and rare metals—by strengthening relations with other countries is essential to the sustainable development of the lives of Japanese people.
  It is also critical that we ensure our human security by accelerating Japan's proactive efforts to cope with military provocations and other concerns that threaten Japan's security, to develop an international framework for peacekeeping, and to secure our own borders.
  In addition, Japan, as one of the world's largest economies and populations, has an increasingly important role to play in addressing issues that require international cooperation to ensure global sustainability, such as sea level rise and weather disasters caused by global warming and climate change, destruction of marine resources due to the discharge of marine plastics and other substances, and air pollution.
  As mentioned earlier, the Japan Innovation Party will delegate the solution of many national issues in Japanese politics to regional governments, establishing a system in which the central government devotes itself to efforts to address the problems of Japan’s national position and the surrounding international community. In diplomacy, the Japan Innovation Party will take a leading position in the formulation of new directions and rules for the international community by devising and creating new concepts and solutions for the challenges facing the world. By doing so, Japan will contribute further to the maintenance and development of the peace and prosperity of the international community, strategically incorporating the growth potential of the world into the growth potential of Japan and its regions. Through these measures, Japan will further demonstrate leadership in the international community, seeking to be an independent nation that both secures its national interests and contributes to international peace.

3. Basic Policies and Principles for Realization of a New Japan

(1)Reform of the Governance Structure

We will revise the Constitution to establish a system of popular election of the Prime Minister, a unicameral legislature (unification of Japan’s lower and upper Houses), and a Constitutional Court. We will transfer authority and financial resources to regional governments, and ensure regional issues are left to the free discretion of regional governments. We will create a new mechanism enabling regional governments to be directly involved in national decision-making on issues that closely involve both the national and regional governments.

(2)Decentralization and Rectification of Concentrated Power in Tokyo

By overcoming the concentration and centralization of power in Tokyo, we will achieve a multi-polar, decentralized national structure. The first step in this direction is the creation of a vice-capital, Osaka, to take on the functions of a capital city. By relocating some of the capital’s functions, including central ministries and agencies, we will see a structural shift from centralization in Tokyo to a bipolar structure involving both Eastern and Western Japan. In addition, by strengthening the authority of regional governments (by introducing a doshusei system merging existing prefectures into regional states, etc.), the current fusion-type administration will be changed and a more efficient administration will be realized through the horizontal division of roles between national and regional governments.

(3)Growth Strategy to Combat Vested Interests

We will eliminate antiquated regulations that have supported vested interests, and work to transform Japan’s industrial structure and improve the mobility of its labor market. We will thoroughly eliminate factors that hinder economic growth, promoting innovation while supporting the shift of human resources away from declining industries toward growth industries. We will review the government subsidy system, which provides excessive funding to organizations and groups, and push for the renewal of the industrial structure, while building a trampoline-type safety net that provides relief to working individuals and encourages them to take second chances.

(4)Smaller Administrative Structure

We will review excessive government involvement, and clearly identify the scope and roles of self-help, mutual aid, and public assistance. We will eliminate vested interests brought about by public subsidies, and make the government truly commit to supporting the vulnerable.
We will reject the bloat of administrative structures caused by complex institutional designs, and achieve a simplified administrative structure with a simple, fair institutional design.

(5)Fairness of Benefits and Burdens

We will construct a tax system and a sustainable social security system that ensure fairness of benefits and burdens. We will prioritize direct taxation of consumers rather than taxation of providers of services, and as far as possible eliminate inequities caused by subsidized public administration.

(6)Revitalizing the Working-Age Population, and Achieving a Society in Which No One Is Left Behind

We will reduce the excessive social security burden disproportionately placed on the working-age population, and thoroughly strengthen support for raising children, the nurturing of future generations, in order to revitalize the working-age population and rebuild relationships of cooperation and trust between the generations. In addition to advancing the position of women in society, we support the participation of all kinds of diverse individuals in society, to realize a society in which no one is left behind and everyone can find a place to play an active role.

(7)Equal Opportunity

By realizing a society that is open to the entire nation, and making education free, we will provide equal opportunities for self-fulfillment through people’s own efforts. By eliminating inequalities in employment opportunities based on criteria other than ability, and by guaranteeing opportunities for redevelopment of abilities, we will realize a society in which every citizen has equal opportunities to play an active role in line with his or her efforts.

(8)Rule of Law

We will stand in solidarity with countries that share similar values: the rule of law, liberalism, and democracy. We will contribute to world peace by developing pragmatic foreign policy and security policy, and encourage action within the international framework to resolve major human rights abuses occurring around the world.
We will actively utilize the International Court of Justice and other institutions as a means of settling international disputes.

4. Japan Innovation Party as a Political Organization

(1)Deep-Cutting Reforms

Based on our political philosophy of "making politics a profession rather than a status," the Japan Innovation Party will cut severely into the vested interests of politicians and carry out constant reforms in politics and government, taking the initiative in undertaking deep-cutting reforms to set an example for others to follow.

(2)Politics Based on the Will of the People

The Japan Innovation Party was founded out of the people's anger against the old political system. Therefore, in policy-making, we will always emphasize understanding of Japan’s people, always acting from the standpoint of the people and seeking to achieve policies that are acceptable to the people, without compromising with the logic and practices of Nagatacho, Kasumigaseki, and other political and administrative circles.

(3)Politics in Action

The Japan Innovation Party takes pride in being a political group that pursues real change, placing more importance on implementing realistic policies than on amassing idealistic theories that may look good on paper. We remain committed to enriching the lives of Japan’s people. We will restore public trust in politics through prompt decision-making and the ability to put into practice what we have decided, thereby expanding broad support for the party.

(4)Transparency

Thorough disclosure of information is the foundation of democracy. When deciding on important policies, the Japan Innovation Party will thoroughly eliminate the "black box" of politics and make decisions based on open public debate.

(5)Organization

• Unlike conventional, centralized parties in which members of the national, prefectural, and municipal assemblies are arranged in a pyramid, the Japan Innovation Party pursues national change from the regional level through a horizontal division of roles between national and regional governments, with each assembly member assigned to a role within the organization.

• The Party’s decision-making process for the recognition and punishment of special party members, as well as all other awards and punishments, shall be clearly identified from the standpoints of rationality, consistency, and transparency. This shall operate with clear and unified standards, separately stipulated in the party constitution.

• The party convention shall be the supreme decision-making body for revision of the party’s programs and protocols, and decisions shall be made by the consensus of the members following democratic procedures.

Supplementary Provision

This Platform shall come into effect as of October 31, 2015.

Supplementary Provision

This revised Platform shall come into effect at the same time as the decision of the Party Convention on the proposal to change the name of this Party.

Supplementary Provision

This revised Platform shall come into effect as of March 27, 2022.