LDP Policy Chief Wants To Control Increasing Japan Power Rates

Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) policy chief Koichi Hagiuda expressed his desire to curb the increase in electricity prices in Japan on a program aired by public broadcaster NHK, Shiho Fujibuchi reported for Mainichi Japan.

Photo Insert: Takahama nuclear power plant, owned by Kansai Electric power Co.

Hagiuda said "considering our daily lives, the government needs to work together to discuss deeper, especially with regard to the cost of electricity," and added:

"Electricity bills have gone up by 20% for households. I think we need to bring them back down by at least half of this percentage."

The government is considering establishing a new electricity rate subsidy system as the centerpiece of a comprehensive economic stimulus package to be formulated at the end of October.

Hagiuda also commented on a dissolution order to the controversial Unification Church, a religious group formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, based on the Religious Corporations Act.

"It will be a judicial decision. The agencies that have jurisdiction over the group can make a request, but it is difficult to make that decision immediately because the law stipulates that the organization must have committed an act that is clearly recognized as extremely harmful to the public welfare in violation of laws and regulations, and that it must have committed an act that significantly deviates from the purpose of a religious organization. I think it is necessary to continue the discussion," Hagiuda stressed.

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