Japan PM Planning to Expand Aid to Lower Winter Utility Bills

Tokyo, Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday unveiled plans to increase financial aid from summer levels to lower household electricity and gas bills this winter. The government will “provide enhanced support for the cold season,” she told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, responding to a question from Yukihito Koga of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Government support reduced electricity and gas bills at a standard household by a total of about 3,000 yen between July and September. Koga urged Takaichi to set a target for minimum wages, after her immediate predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, aimed to realize a nationwide average of 1,500 yen per hour in the 2020s. “I cannot mention how high the target should be and by when it should be achieved,” Takaichi replied. “I will work to prepare an environment enabling wage increases exceeding inflation.” On an easing of regulations on working hours, which she has instructed her government staff to consider, Takaichi said, “The idea of people being allowed to work more under the upper limits is closest to my view.” “Opinions have been raised that companies are cutting overtime excessively, as the country’s work style reforms have impacted society too much,” she said, answering a question from Takanori Kawai of the opposition the Democratic Party for the People. Asked by Takashi Koyari of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party about how the government is going to address revenue drops at local governments from the planned abolition of the gas oil transaction tax surcharge, internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said, “We will work firmly to secure stable (alternative) financial resources, including through tax system reform.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]