(Update 2) Japan Upper House Election Campaign Period Kicks Off

   Tokyo, July 3 (Jiji Press)--The campaign period for the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, kicked off Thursday.
   The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito will seek to maintain their majority in the Upper House, including seats not contested this time. Meanwhile, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and others hope to force the LDP-Komeito pair into a minority, as they did in last year's election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber.
   Measures to tackle inflation, including a possible reduction of consumption tax, and responses to the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to be major issues in the campaigning for the race.
   As of noon, 518 people filed their candidacies for the 125 seats up for grabs in the 248-seat upper chamber in this election. Of them, 346 candidates threw their hats in the ring for the 75 prefectural constituency seats being contested, and 172 candidates stood for 50 proportional representation seats.
   Excluding by-elections, it is the first time under Japan's modern Constitution that a race for either chamber of parliament is held in the middle of a holiday period of three days or more. Japan celebrates Marine Day, a public holiday, on July 21.

(2025/07/03-15:26)

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