Lower House members’ average asset hits record low

April 2, 2018

Tokyo- Assets held by the 465 House of Representatives members, who won seats in the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, in the October 2017 election, averaged 29.17 million yen, data showed Monday.

The figure tumbled 15.8 percent from the previous average disclosed after the 2014 Lower House election, posting the lowest level since the disclosure of lawmakers' assets began in 1993, according to a Jiji Press survey of asset data released by the Lower House.

The plunge came after former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama, who held assets worth over 3 billion yen, died in 2016.

The previous record low, which stood at 31.5 million yen, was marked in the survey after the 2009 Lower House election, in which the Liberal Democratic Party lost power.

The latest release, based on a law on the disclosure of lawmakers' assets, is the 10th one for all Lower House members. The data cover assets as of Oct. 22, 2017, when the current Lower House members took office.

On average, the 465 members had 23.5 million yen in real estate assets and 5.67 million yen in financial assets, such as time deposits and securities. Both averages fell from the previous survey.

The average debt stood at 15.12 million yen.

The biggest asset holder was Saichi Kamiyama of the LDP. His assets totaled 930.71 million yen, due to his massive real estate holdings.

He was followed by Ichiro Aisawa, also an LDP member, who inherited real estate assets, with 500.1 million yen, and Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso with 486.82 million yen.

Among political party leaders, Ichiro Ozawa of the Liberal Party ranked top with 214.91 million yen, followed by the LDP's Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, with 103.96 million yen.

Japanese Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii had 11.48 million yen and Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yukio Edano 1.32 million yen. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Party of Hope, had no assets subject to disclosure.

The number of lawmakers with assets worth 100 million yen or more stood at 27, while that of those who reported no financial or real estate assets came to 70. The disclosure system does not cover ordinary deposits.

The average asset was 11.44 million yen for female lawmakers and 31.16 million yen for male lawmakers.

By party, the Liberal Party ranked top with the average assets of its members elected in the 2017 poll standing at 109.03 million yen.

The LDP came second with 37.35 million yen, followed by the Democratic Party with 25.02 million yen, the Social Democratic Party with 24.68 million yen and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan with 19.46 million yen.

Next came Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, with 10.88 million yen, against 10.56 million yen for the Party of Hope and 5.88 million yen for Nippon Ishin no Kai. The JCP was at the bottom with 5.26 million yen. Jiji Press