Social Democratic Party (Japan)

{{main|Japan Socialist Party}}

In 1995, the former Japan Socialist Party (JSP) was in a deep crisis, facing criticism for entering a coalition with its long-time rival, the LDP and for core policy changes.{{Cite news |last=Pollack |first=Andrew |date=1995-09-22 |title=Japan's Socialist Party Disbands, Searching for a New Identity |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/22/world/japan-s-socialist-party-disbands-searching-for-a-new-identity.html |access-date=2022-07-13 |issn=0362-4331}} Aiming at saving the party, the leadership of JSP decided to dissolve the party and to establish a new social democratic party. In January 1996, a new party, the Social Democratic Party, was established, along with the dissolution of JSP. De jure, JSP changed its name to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as an interim party for forming a new party, and a movement for transforming the SDP into a new social-democratic and liberal party was unsuccessful.

Under Murayama's successor Ryūtarō Hashimoto (LDP), the SDP remained part of the ruling coalition. Long before its disappointing result in the 1996 Japanese general election, the party lost the majority of its members of the House of Representatives, mainly to predecessors of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) that was formed in 1996, but also some to the NFP and other opposition parties. After its electoral defeat in the 1996 general election, when it lost another 15 of its remaining 30 seats in the lower house, the SDP left the ruling coalition, which it had entered as the second-largest force in Japanese politics, as a minor party.

The SDP won six seats in the 2003 Japanese general election, compared with 18 seats in the previous 2000 Japanese general election. The party's opposition to the Self-Defense Forces reverted to the abolition of the forces in the long term, the policy it had in the 1950s. Doi had been the leader since 1996, but she resigned in 2003, taking responsibility for the election losses. Mizuho Fukushima was elected as the new party leader in November 2003. In the 2004 Japanese House of Councillors election, the SDP won only two seats, having five seats in the House of Councillors and six seats in the House of Representatives. In 2006, the party unexpectedly gained the governorship of the Shiga Prefecture. In the 2009 Japanese general election, the DPJ made large gains and the SDP maintained its base of 7 seats in the, becoming a junior partner in a new government coalition; however, disagreements over the issue of the Futenma base led to the sacking of Fukushima from the cabinet on 28 May and the SDP subsequently voted to leave the ruling coalition.BBC News [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10193171 Socialists leave Japan coalition over Okinawa issue] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103120947/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10193171 |date=2010-11-03 }}

File:Social Democratic Party of Japan - campaginvan - dec13-2012.jpg

As of October 2010, the SDP had six members in the House of Representatives{{cite web|url=http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e_strength.htm|title=The House of Representatives|publisher=National Diet of Japan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322185742/http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e_strength.htm|archive-date=22 March 2011|access-date=7 May 2017}} and four members in the House of Councillors.{{cite web|url=http://www.sangiin.go.jp/eng/member/members/index.htm|title=List of the Members|publisher=National Diet of Japan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322230318/http://www.sangiin.go.jp/eng/member/members/index.htm|archive-date=22 March 2011|access-date=7 May 2017}} Following the 2012 Japanese general election, the party retained only six seats in the whole of the Diet, two in the House of Representatives and four in the House of Councillors. The count lowered to five seats in 2013. In 2013, the party's headquarters in Nagatacho, where the party's predecessor the JSP had moved in 1964, were demolished. The headquarters moved to a smaller office in Nagatacho.Japan Times [http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/01/27/national/japans-social-democratic-party-moving-hq-out-of-historic-tokyo-building/ Japan's Social Democratic Party moving HQ out of historic Tokyo building January 27, 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203100934/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/01/27/national/japans-social-democratic-party-moving-hq-out-of-historic-tokyo-building/ |date=December 3, 2013 }}

During the nomination period of the 2016 Japanese House of Councillors election, the party signed an agreement with the Democratic, Communist and People's Life parties to field a jointly-endorsed candidate in each of the 32 districts in which only one seat is contested, thereby uniting in an attempt to take control of the House from the LDP/Komeito coalition.{{cite web |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/07/national/politics-diplomacy/opposition-parties-activists-ink-policy-pact-upper-house-election/ |title=Opposition parties, activists ink policy pact for Upper House election |publisher=Japan Times |date=7 June 2016 |access-date=23 June 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609042155/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/07/national/politics-diplomacy/opposition-parties-activists-ink-policy-pact-upper-house-election/ |archive-date=9 June 2016 }} The party had two Councillors up for re-election and fielded a total of 11 candidates in the election, 4 in single and multi-member districts and 7 in the 48-seat national proportional representation block.{{cite web|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/election/sangiin/2016/news2/20160623-OYT1T50006.html |script-title=ja:第３極衰退で候補者減、タレント候補１０人に |trans-title=Fewer candidates with the demise of the third pole - 10 celebrity candidates |language=ja |publisher=Yomiuri Shimbun |date=23 June 2016 |access-date=23 June 2016}}

In the 2017 Japanese general election, the party managed to hold to its two seats it had prior to the election. Tadatomo Yoshida declined to run for re-election when his term expired in January 2018. Seiji Mataichi was elected unopposed in the ensuing leadership election and took office on 25 February 2018.{{cite news|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL1V4DKLL1VUTFK00N.html |script-title=ja:社民党首選、又市幹事長が無投票で当選 任期は２年間|publisher=Asahi Shimbun|first=Yuka|last=Takeshita|date=26 January 2018|access-date=26 January 2018|language=ja|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127004428/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL1V4DKLL1VUTFK00N.html|archive-date=27 January 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO27373580V20C18A2PE8000/ |script-title=ja:社民、又市新党首を承認 立民軸の共闘推進へ|publisher=Nihon Keizai Shimbun|date=25 February 2018|access-date=27 February 2018|language=ja|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227035426/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO27373580V20C18A2PE8000/|archive-date=27 February 2018}}

On 14 November 2020, the party voted to agree to a merger arrangement with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), allowing members to leave the SDP and join the latter party. The majority of the party supported the agreement and joined the CDP; however, party leader Fukushima herself was opposed to the merger agreement and remains a member of the Social Democratic Party.{{cite news|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO27373580V20C18A2PE8000/ |title=Social Democratic Party to split; most Diet members to join CDPJ

|publisher=The Japan Times|date=25 February 2018|access-date=15 November 2020|language=en}}

In the 2021 Japanese general election, the party lost one of their two seats.

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Party policies include:{{cite web|url=http://www5.sdp.or.jp/policy/policy.htm |script-title=ja:社民党OfficialWeb┃政策（時系列）|access-date=12 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713101458/http://www5.sdp.or.jp/policy/policy.htm|archive-date=13 July 2015}}

• Defend Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan and declare cities defenseless so that they will not resist in the event of invasion.
• Advocate a significant increase in the scope of social welfare such as healthcare, pensions, social security and disability care.
• Opposition to neoliberalism and neoconservatism.
• Complete disarmament of Japan in accordance with pacifist principles. The Japanese Self-Defense Force will be replaced with a force dedicated to disaster relief and foreign aid.
• Cancellation of the United States–Japan military alliance, dismantling of United States bases in Japan and replacing it with a Treaty of Friendship.
• Opposition to Japan's involvement in supporting the United States in the war against terror through refueling of American warships in the Indian Ocean.
• Introduction of an environmental carbon tax.
• Significant increase in the scope of wildlife protection legislation, increasing the number of protected species and setting up of protection zones.
• Transition from a mass-production/mass-consumption society to a sustainable society in coexistence with nature.
• Clampdown on harmful chemicals, e.g. restriction on use of agricultural chemicals, ban on asbestos, tackling dioxin and soil pollutants.
• Increased investment in public transport, encouraging a switch from road to rail and from petrol powered buses to hybrids, electric vehicles and light rail transit.
• Opposition to nuclear power and proposal of a gradual switch to wind energy as the nation's base energy source.
• Abolition of the death penalty.
• Opposition to water privatization.
• Supports feminist politics.Johnson, L.L. , eds. (1992). [https://scienceon.kisti.re.kr/srch/selectPORSrchArticle.do?cn=NART14009494&SITE=CLICK The feminist politics of Takako Doi and the social democratic party of Japan]. Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-women-harassment-comments-factb-idUSKCN1IP089 |title=Factbox: Prominent Japanese women speak out on sexual harassment |quote= Fukushima, 62, a former lawyer, feminist activist and member of parliament’s upper house, is deputy head of the small opposition Social Democratic Party. She has a history of representing and advising victims of sexual harassment. |work=Reuters |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=25 January 2022}}
• Legalization of same-sex marriage.Inada, Miho; Dvorak, Phred. [https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/09/20/same-sex-marriage-in-japan-a-long-way-away/ "Same-Sex Marriage in Japan: A Long Way Away?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616022229/https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/09/20/same-sex-marriage-in-japan-a-long-way-away/ |date=2016-06-16 }}. The Wall Street Journal. September 20, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2014.

• Kunio Arakaki (Okinawa-2nd)

Up for re-election in 2025

• Yūko Ōtsubaki (National PR)

Up for re-election in 2028

• Mizuho Fukushima (National PR)

• Democratic Party of Japan
• Democratic Socialist Party (Japan)
• Japan Socialist Party
• Leftist Socialist Party of Japan
• List of political parties in Japan
• Politics of Japan
• Rightist Socialist Party of Japan
• Itsurō Sakisaka

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