Yakura: Youth hearings generate party policy proposal

January 14 , 2021

On December 25, 2020, Katsuo Yakura, the Komeito House of Councilors member and chair of the party’s committee on youth affairs, submitted a policy proposal to Katsunobu Kato, chief cabinet secretary of the administration led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The proposal was developed after a series of public hearings with 3,990 youth in 2020 to discuss needs and wants of their generation as well as to gauge the level of their political awareness. Komei Shimbun, the party organ daily, spoke with Yakura on the hearings and the proposal that followed.

Among the views aired at the hearings was the difficulty in securing information on government services, including regulations on childcare leave, while others sought such workplace reforms as shorter work hours and flex time. Some two out of three young people cited the need to increase wages and pare fixed costs, not only for the low-income demographic but also for medium-income earners. The Komeito proposal was born out of their views, explained Yakura.

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