Japanese Communist Party

Japanese Communist Party (JCP), leftist Japanese political party founded in 1922. Initially, the party was outlawed, and it operated clandestinely until the post-World War II Allied occupation command restored freedom of political association in Japan; it was established legally in October 1945.

In 1949 the JCP won 35 seats in the House of Representatives (lower chamber) of the Diet (legislature) and nearly 10 percent of the vote, but external and internal pressures so shattered the party that it lost all its seats in the elections of 1952. In 1955 the party reorganized and began a steady ascent in membership and seats in the Diet, which peaked when it won 39 lower-house seats in 1979. In the 1980s the party averaged between 5 and 10 percent of the vote and held on average about 30 seats in the chamber. In 1993 it was reduced to only 15 seats, and in subsequent years it modified its policies to become a more traditional democratic socialist party. It also took a strong stance against nuclear weapons. Though it raised its number of seats to 26 in 1996, its support eroded in subsequent elections, its seat total dropping below 10 in the polling between 2003 and 2012. The party experienced something of a resurgence in the 2014 election, however, as it garnered 21 seats.

The JCP’s fortunes followed a similar trajectory in the House of Councillors (upper chamber) of the Diet. It reached a peak of 23 seats after the 1998 election before falling to fewer than 10 in 2004. A stronger showing in the 2013 contest, however, pushed the seat total up to 11.

Over time the party has adopted an increasingly nationalist stance. In the 1960s the JCP broke with the Soviet and Chinese parties, causing a schism with its more radical members; it restored relations with the Chinese Communist Party in 1998. Its newspaper, Akahata (“Red Flag”), published in daily and weekly editions, has a large national circulation.