January 27, 2026
Japan Association of New Economy (JANE)
Representative Director
Mickey Mikitani

The Japan Association of New Economy (JANE; Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Mickey Mikitani) issues the following statement regarding the public notice of the House of Representatives election.

Today, January 27, 2026, the public notice of the House of Representatives election was issued.
Japan currently faces deep-rooted challenges that threaten the foundations of its future. Economic stagnation over the past 20 years has resulted in exceptionally low growth* by international standards. At the same time, the country faces a worsening labor shortage caused by the declining birthrate and aging population. To overcome these challenges and achieve JX (Japan Transformation), which aims to fundamentally transform Japan, it is necessary to advance policies with unprecendented speed. These include a comprehensive review of the tax system and regulatory systems and a shift to an industrial structure based on AI and digital technologies. While elections are an essential democratic process, they can temporarily slow the progress on urgent policy initiatives. It is therefore important that outcomes are delivered to citizens that more than compensate for such delays.

A major concern in the upcoming election is tax policy. Amid persistent inflation, almost all political parties have included consumption tax cuts in their campaign pledges. The market has already signaled its concern regarding such non-strategic fiscal measures. Reports indicate that the world’s largest asset management firm has stopped purchasing Japan’s super-long-term government bonds, and yields on 40-year Japanese government bonds have reached record-highs. Expanding fiscal expenditures without clear principles could lead to rapid yen depreciation, rising interest rates and accelerating inflation. From a macroeconomic perspective, this would be extremely risky.

From the perspective of national management, priority should be given to improving government efficiency and moving toward a smaller government through measures such as AI utilization and local government reform. At the same time, Japan must implement reforms to attract “people, knowledge and capital (money)” from all over the world and revitalize the economy. In terms of taxation, reducing income tax and corporate tax, which are internationally high and act as barriers to attracting “people, knowledge and capital”, is essential. Policies that cut consumption tax while increasing income or corporate taxes would be counterproductive. Additionally, in terms of attracting “people, knowledge and capital (money)”, reforms advocated by JANE, including work motivation reform, strategic utilization of global talent and regulatory reform, are also crucial. Resources should be focused on realizing these policies.

In this House of Representatives election, JANE sincerely hopes that political parties will move beyond short-term distribution arguments and engage in positive and constructive policy debates to shape Japan’s future.

*Nominal GDP growth rate on a U.S. dollar basis from 2003 to 2023.