Seijika Joshi 48 Party

Seijika Joshi 48 Party (Japanese: 政治家女子48党, romanized: Seijika Joshi fōtieito tō, lit. 'Politician Girls 48 Party'), self-abbreviated as the Seijika Joshi (政治家女子),[7][8] previously and also known as the NHK Party (NHK党)[9][10][11][12][13] is a populist[2] and right-wing[6] political party in Japan founded in 2013 by activist Takashi Tachibana, who led the party until stepping down in March 2023[14] until becoming the disputed leader again a month later, in April 2023.[15] The party's original goal was to oppose the license fees for the national broadcasting organization NHK, revising the 1950 Broadcasting Law to scramble NHK's broadcast signal, which would mean that only those who watch NHK pay for it. The party's policies has since expanded to cover other issues, including lower taxes, increasing military defense capability, and reaching energy independence through nuclear energy.[16]

Seijika Joshi 48 Party
政治家女子48党
LeaderDisputed
Ayaka Otsu (de jure)
Takashi Tachibana (de facto)
Deputy LeaderHodaka Maruyama
Secretary-GeneralSatoshi Hamada
FounderTakashi Tachibana
Founded17 June 2013 (17 June 2013)
HeadquartersHonmachi, Funabashi, Chiba 1-11-29, Japan[1]
IdeologyPopulism[2]
Direct democracy[3]
Anti-communism[4]
Single issue politics:
Political positionRight-wing[6]
Colors
  •   Pink[lower-alpha 1]
  •   Yellow[lower-alpha 2]
  •   Blue[lower-alpha 3]
Slogan"ＮＨＫをぶっ壊す！"
"NHK o bukkowasu!"
("Destroy NHK!")
Councillors
2 / 248
Representatives
0 / 465
Prefectural assembly members
0 / 2,598
Municipal assembly members
9 / 29,608
Website
www.syoha.jp

The party has been referred to by some commentators and political scientists as a fringe or joke party, despite having seen occasional success in national elections.[17][18] Its candidates and officeholders, who are often YouTubers or other Internet celebrities, have been frequent sources of controversy.[19][20] The party changed its name several times, with its most recent change in March 2023.[14]

The party is currently in a leadership dispute between Tachibana and Ayaka Otsu since 7 April 2023. As of June 2023, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications recognizes Otsu as the legal leader of the party.[21] Despite this, most of the party defected and switched allegiance to Tachibana, resulting in a deadlock where Otsu is the de jure leader while Tachibana is the de facto leader.[22]

History
Old party logo as NHK party

The founder of the party, Takashi Tachibana, is a former employee of Japan's national public broadcasting organization NHK. He resigned from his position in the accounting department at NHK after having leaked internal corruption to weekly magazine Shūkan Bunshun in 2005. In 2012, he founded the "Tachibana one-man broadcasting station", a YouTube channel that vowed to fight against NHK.[23] In 2013, this evolved into The Party to Protect the People from NHK. Tachibana used YouTube to bypass the mass media, which would not cover his activism. Over the years, he used YouTube to gain multiple local council seats. Finally, in 2019, the party won its first seat in the Diet in the summer 2019 House of Councillors election.[23] The party also gained a seat in the House of Representatives when Hodaka Maruyama joined the party on 29 July 2019.[23]

Celebrity YouTuber Yoshikazu Higashitani was elected to the House of Councillors in 2022 but was expelled in March 2023 for not attending any sessions, reputedly due to fear of being arrested if he were to visit Japan.[24]

The party mainly exists to counter bad behaviour by NHK license fee money collectors,[25][26] who Tachibana says have connections to the yakuza.[23] The party issues a special sticker to protect citizen's properties from these collectors and has a call center to help people avoid paying the license fee.[23] While it is required by law to make a contract with NHK and pay if one owns a device capable of receiving the NHK signal (for example, a regular TV), the law does not impose any punishment for nonpayment of the license fee.[23] Lacking a means of criminal prosecution, NHK has resorted to using debt collectors to pressure people for payment, and Tachibana wants to eliminate the license fee system and make NHK like any other subscription television channel, where only those that want to watch it must pay.

The rise of the party is described as part of rising distrust of the mass media in Japan by researcher Max Guerrera-Sapone.[23]

Party name history

The party was formed as the NHK License Fee Non-Payment Party (NHK受信料不払い党, NHK jushinryō fubarai tō) on 17 June 2013, but changed its name a month later on 23 July 2013 to The Party to Protect the People from NHK (NHKから国民を守る党, NHK kara kokumin o mamoru tō), commonly shortened to N-Koku Party (N国党) or just N-Koku. Its name was again changed in January 2021 to The Party to Protect our People from NHK (NHKから自国民を守る党, NHK kara jikokumin o mamoru tō), officially abbreviated to NHK Party (NHK党). This change, the addition of the character 自 (ji, our) before 国民 (kokumin, people/citizen) did not alter the meaning of the party's name, but was intended to allow the party to use the official abbreviation Jimintō (自民党), that of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.[27] This was rejected by the Internal Affairs Ministry, however, and so the abbreviation was instead changed to "NHK Party".[28] The party's official website used the English name "The Party to Protect Citizens from NHK",[29] but the English-speaking press has preferred the translation "The Party to Protect the People from NHK". The party again changed its name to The Party that Teaches How to Not Pay the NHK License Fee (NHK受信料を支払わない方法を教える党, NHK jushinryō o shiharawanai hōhō o oshieru tō) on 5 February 2021, and announced that it intended to keep changing its name in future, while maintaining the "NHK Party" short form as the party's common name.[30][31] On 17 May 2021, the party changed its name to The Party to Protect People from Old Political Parties (古い政党から国民を守る党, furui seitō kara kokumin o mamoru tō).[32][33] On 28 June 2021, the party changed its name to Storm Party (嵐の党). On 21 July 2021, the party changed its name to The party fighting against NHK in the trial for violating Article 72 of the Attorney Act (NHKと裁判してる党弁護士法72条違反で). On 20 January 2022, the party changed its name again to The party that protects those who do not pay the NHK license fee (NHK 受信料を支払わない国民を守る党). On 25 April 2022, the party again changed its name to NHK Party (NHK党), with its self-abbreviation being "NHK". On March 8, 2023, it was announced that the party would once again rename itself as Seijika Joshi 48 Party (政治家女子48党).[34]

Party name Time
English Japanese Start End
NHK License Fee Nonpayment Party NHK受信料不払い党 2013-06-17 2013-07-23
The Party to Protect the People from NHK NHKから国民を守る党 2013-07-23 2020-12-21
The Party to Protect our People from NHK NHKから自国民を守る党 2020-12-21 2021-02-05
The Party That Teaches How to Not Pay the NHK License Fee NHK受信料を支払わない方法を教える党 2021-02-05 2021-05-17
The Party to Protect People from Old Political Parties[35] 古い政党から国民を守る党 2021-05-17 2021-06-28
Storm Party 嵐の党 2021-06-28 2021-07-21
The party fighting against NHK in the trial for violating Article 72 of the Attorney Act[36] NHKと裁判してる党弁護士法72条違反で 2021-07-21 2022-01-20
The party that protects those who do not pay the NHK license fee NHK受信料を支払わない国民を守る党 2022-01-20 2022-04-25
NHK Party NHK党 2022-04-25 2023-03-08
Politician Girls 48 Party 政治家女子48党 2023-03-08 present

Leadership
Position Name
Leader Ayaka Otsu
Deputy leader Hodaka Maruyama
Kenichiro Saito
Secretary-General Atsuhiko Kurokawa
Chairman of the Policy Bureau Satoshi Hamada
Election Campaign Committee chief Takashi Tachibana

List of leaders
No. Name
(Birth–death)		 Constituency / title Term of office Election results Image Prime Minister (term)
Took office Left office
1 Takashi Tachibana (b. 1967) Councillor for Proportional
(2019)		 17 June 2013 8 March 2023 N/A Abe S.
(Liberal Democratic Party (LDP))
2012–2020
Suga
(Liberal Democratic Party (LDP))
2020–21
Kishida
(Liberal Democratic Party (LDP))
2021–present
2 Ayaka Otsu (b. 1992) N/A 8 March 2023 7 April 2023 N/A
3 Takashi Tachibana (b. 1967) N/A 7 April 2023 Incumbent N/A

Election results

House of Representatives
House of Representatives
Election Leader Seats Position Constituency votes PR Block votes Status
No. ± Share Number  % Number  %
2021 Takashi Tachibana
0 / 465
 0% 150,542 0.26% 796,788 1.39% Extra-parliamentary

House of Councillors
House of Councillors
Election Leader Seats Position Constituency Party list Status
Won ± Share Total[lower-alpha 4] Number  % Number  %
2019 Takashi Tachibana
1 / 124
 0.8%
1 / 245
 9th 1,521,344 3.02% 987,885 1.97% Opposition
2022
1 / 125
 0.8%
2 / 248
 Increase 8th 1,106,508 2.08% 1,253,872 2.36% Opposition

Tokyo
Election Candidate Result
Votes  %
2016 Takashi Tachibana Lost 27,242 0.42
2022 Lost 43,912 0.72

Notes
  1. as Seijika Joshi 48 Party
  2. as NHK Party
  3. as NHK Party
  4. The Upper house is split in two classes, one elected every three years.

References
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  2. Shiromoto, Koji (10 August 2019). "7 winners and losers from a deeply ambiguous Japanese election". McGill International Review. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. "N国・立花氏、丸山議員に入党呼びかける考え 比例当確". 朝日新聞 (in Japanese). 2019-07-22.
  4. "Ｎ党ｖｓ共産党、浜田氏「共産の非合法化は合理的」". Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). 6 March 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
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  6. Mizushima, Jiro (2022-07-19). "ポピュリズムが支持される理由". Seiji Premier (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
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