The party that protects those who do not pay the NHK license fee

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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
LeaderTakashi Tachibana
Deputy LeaderHodaka Maruyama
Secretary-GeneralTakashi Uesugi
Councilors LeaderSatoshi Hamada
Representatives LeaderHodaka Maruyama
Founded17 June 2013 (17 June 2013)
Headquarters〒124-0023 Park Tower Tokyo East Room 407, 1-4-3 Higashishinkoiwa, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo
IdeologyDirect democracy[1]
Populism[2]
Single issue politics:
Anti TV license fee[3]
Colors  Sky blue   Yellow
Slogan"Destroy NHK!"
Councillors
1 / 245
Representatives
0 / 465
City, special ward, town and village assembly members
27 / 29,839
Website
www.syoha.jp

The party that protects those who do not pay the NHK license fee (Japanese: NHK受信料を支払わない国民を守る党), self-abbreviated as the NHK Party (NHK党),[4] is a populist[2] and single-issue political party in Japan founded on 17 June 2013 by activist Takashi Tachibana. The party's original goal was to oppose the license fees for the national broadcasting organization NHK, and its manifesto consists of only one policy, revising the to implement scramble broadcasting, which would mean that only those who watch NHK pay for it. The party's slogan is "NHK o bukkowasu!" (NHKをぶっ壊す！, "Destroy NHK!").[5] It has undergone a series of renames, the most recent (as of January 2022) being The party that protects those who do not pay the NHK license fee.

Name[]

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 use the official abbreviation Jimintō (自民党), that of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.[6] This was rejected by the Internal Affairs Ministry, however, and so the abbreviation was instead changed to "NHK Party".[7] The party's official website used the English name "The Party to Protect Citizens from NHK",[8] 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.[9][10] 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).[11][12] On 28 June 2021, the party changed its name to Storm Party (Japanese: 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 (Japanese: 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 (Japanese: NHK 受信料を支払わない国民を守る党).[4]

History[]

Old logomark of party

The founder of the party, Takashi Tachibana, is a former employee of Japan's national 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.[13] 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, and finally, in 2019, the party won its first seat in the Diet in the summer 2019 House of Councillors election.[13] The party also gained a seat in the House of Representatives when Hodaka Maruyama joined the party on 29 July 2019.[13]

The party mainly exists to counter bad behaviour by NHK license fee money collectors,[14][15] who Tachibana says have connections to the yakuza.[13] 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.[13] While it is required by law to make a contract with NHK if one owns a device capable of receiving the NHK signal, the law does not impose any punishment for nonpayment of the license fee.[13] 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.[citation needed]

The rise of the party is described as part of rising distrust of the mass media in Japan by researcher Max Guerrera-Sapone.[13]

Election results[]

General election results[]

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

Councillors election results[]

House of Councillors
Election Leader Seats Position Constituency Party list Status
Won ± Share Total[a] Number % Number %
2019 Takashi Tachibana
1 / 124
 0.8%
1 / 245
 9th 1,521,344 3.02% 987,885 1.97% Opposition

Notes[]

  1. ^ The Upper house is split in two classes, one elected every three years.

References[]

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ a b Shiromoto, Koji (10 August 2019). "7 winners and losers from a deeply ambiguous Japanese election". McGill International Review. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. ^ "N国党台頭で話題沸騰する｢NHK受信料｣の現実". 東洋経済 (in Japanese). 2019-08-10.
  4. ^ a b "NHK党 公式サイト | NHKをぶっ壊す！". NHK 受信料を 支払わない国民を守る党 公式サイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  5. ^ "After stunning election win, anti-NHK party sets higher goal：The Asahi Shimbun". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2019-07-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)[dead link]
  6. ^ "Ｎ国が申請した略称「自民党」認めず 中央選管「混乱もたらす」". Sankei News (in Japanese). 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  7. ^ "第3回中央選挙管理会において決定された事項". Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  8. ^ "NHKをぶっ壊す！". NHKから自国��を守る党 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. ^ "N国が党名変更　略称「NHK党」に". Nikkei Shimbun (in Japanese). 5 February 2021.
  10. ^ "〝Ｎ国党〟が〝ＮＨＫ党〟へ 「ＮＨＫ受信料を支払わない方法を教える党」に改称". Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 29 January 2021.
  11. ^ "NHK党が「古い政党から国民を守る党」に党名変更". Asahi Shimbun Digital (in Japanese). 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  12. ^ "Protect the Nation from NHK Party becomes Protect the Nation from Old Parties Party". Japan Today. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Guerrera-Sapone, Max (15 January 2021). "YouTube and Japan's New Political Underground: The Rise and Decline of The Party to Protect the People From NHK". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
  14. ^ ""NHK Fee Collector Leaves Note Threatening Impending "Crackdown"". GaijinPot Blog. 26 February 2019.
  15. ^ "NHK fee collector leaves threatening notes on people's doorsteps". Japan Today. Retrieved 2019-07-30.

External links[]

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