The Collaborative Party (, ''Minna de tsukuru tō,'' ), abbreviated as Mintsuku () and commonly referred to by its former name NHK Party (), is a

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

and

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

political party in Japan In Japan, any organization that supports a candidate needs to register itself as a political party. Each of these parties have some local or national influence. This article lists political parties in Japan with representation in the National Die ...

founded in 2013 by activist Takashi Tachibana, who led the party until stepping down in March 2023 and becoming the disputed leader again a month later, in April 2023. The party's original goal was to oppose the license fees for the national broadcasting organization

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, revising the to scramble NHK's broadcast signal, which would mean that only those who watch NHK pay for it. The party's policies have since expanded to cover other issues, including lower taxes, increasing military defense capability, and reaching energy independence through nuclear energy. The party has been referred to by some commentators and political scientists as a fringe or

joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

party, despite having seen occasional success in national elections. Its candidates and officeholders, who are often YouTubers or other

Internet celebrities An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

, have been frequent sources of controversy. The party changed its name several times, with its most recent change in November 2023. The party is currently in a leadership dispute between Tachibana and Ayaka Otsu since April 2023. As of April 2024, the

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications The is a Cabinet (government), cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Centr ...

recognizes Otsu as the sole leader of the party. Despite this, most of the party defected and switched allegiance to Tachibana, resulting in a deadlock where Otsu is the

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

leader while Tachibana is the de facto leader. The party's status as a national political party was revoked in January 2024 after the party lost all of its seats in the

National Diet , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

after the Otsu wing leadership expelled both members of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

for aligning with Tachibana. However, the two still refer to themselves as members of the party through the parliamentary group with the same name as the party. Bankruptcy proceedings commenced on the party on 14 March 2024.

History

As the NHK Party

The founder of the party, Takashi Tachibana, is a former employee of Japan's national

public broadcasting Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

organization

. He resigned from his position in the accounting department at NHK after having leaked internal corruption to weekly magazine ''

Shūkan Bunshun is a Japanese weekly tabloid ( shūkanshi) based in Tokyo, Japan, known for its investigative journalism and frequent clashes with the Japanese government. This has led to it being considered one of the most influential weekly magazines in the ...

'' in 2005. In 2012, he founded the "Tachibana one-man broadcasting station", a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel that vowed to fight against NHK. In 2013, this evolved into The Party to Protect the People from NHK. Tachibana used YouTube to bypass the mass media, which would not cover his activism. Over the years, he used YouTube to gain multiple local council seats. In 2019, the party won its first seat in the

in the 2019 House of Councillors election. The party also gained a seat in the House of Representatives when

Hodaka Maruyama is a Japanese politician who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 as a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai. He was forced out of the party in 2019 after making remarks suggesting the need for Japan to wage war with Russia, and joined ...

joined the party on 29 July 2019. The party mainly exists to counter alleged bad behaviour by NHK license fee money collectors, who Tachibana claims have connections to the

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

. The party issues a special sticker that would allegedly protect citizen's properties and residences from these collectors and has a call center to assist people in avoiding paying the license fee. While it is required by law to make a contract with NHK and pay if one owns a device capable of receiving the NHK signal (for example, a regular TV), the law does not impose any punishment for nonpayment of the license fee. Lacking a means of criminal prosecution, Tachibana claims that NHK has resorted to using debt collectors to pressure people for payment. The rise of the party is described as part of rising distrust of the

mass media in Japan The mass media in Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on capital investments by existing radio networks. Variety shows, ...

by researcher Max Guerrera-Sapone.

As Seijika Joshi 48 Party and leadership dispute

YouTuber Yoshikazu Higashitani, known as his YouTube alias ''GaaSyy'', was elected in the 2022 House of Councillors election, expanding the party's seats in the upper house to two. Higashitani was expelled eight months later in March 2023 for not attending any sessions, reputedly due to his fear of being arrested on grounds of alleged fraud and defamation against celebrities if he were to visit Japan, as he was residing in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

for the entirety of his term. Due to this, Tachibana would resign as the party's leader at a press conference, where he announced former child actress Ayaka Otsu as his successor, and the rebranding of the party to ''Seijika Joshi 48 tō'' ''('', ''Politician Girls 48 Party).'' A month later on 7 April 2023, Tachibana held a press conference and announced that Otsu had been expelled from the party on the previous day, stating that Otsu "posed a risk of dissolving the party." Tachibana then announced that he would return to the position of party leader. In response, Otsu held her own press conference, denying her resignation which split the party between the Otsu wing and the Tachibana wing.

As The Collaborative Party

On 6 November 2023, Otsu held a press conference and announced the change of the party's name to "The Collaborative Party" (みんなでつくる党). Bankruptcy proceedings soon commenced on the party on 14 March 2024.

Party name history

The party was formed as the NHK License Fee Non-Payment Party (, ) on 17 June 2013, but changed its name a month later on 23 July 2013 to The Party to Protect the People from NHK (, ), commonly shortened to or just N-Koku. Its name was again changed in January 2021 to The Party to Protect our People from NHK (, ), officially abbreviated to . This change, the addition of the character (, our) before 国民 (, people/citizen) did not alter the meaning of the party's name, but was intended to allow the party to use the official abbreviation , that of the ruling

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

. This was rejected by the Internal Affairs Ministry, however, and so the abbreviation was instead changed to "NHK Party". The party's official website used the English name "The Party to Protect Citizens from NHK", but the English-speaking press has preferred the translation "The Party to Protect the People from NHK". The party again changed its name to The Party that Teaches How to Not Pay the NHK License Fee (, ) on 5 February 2021, and announced that it intended to keep changing its name in future, while maintaining the "NHK Party" short form as the party's common name. On 25 April 2022, the party again changed its name to NHK Party (), with its self-abbreviation being "NHK". On 8 March 2023, it was announced that the party would rebrand as Seijika Joshi 48 Party (). In the ensuing leadership dispute between Tachibana and Otsu, the Tachibana wing attempted to change the party's name to The Party to Protect the People from NHK (), but was rejected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). On 6 November 2023, the Otsu-wing announced the rebranding of the party to The Collaborative Party (). The changed was approved by the MIC.

Leadership

Otsu wing

Tachibana wing

List of leaders

Election results

House of Representatives

House of Councillors

Gubernatorial

Tokyo

Notes

References

External links

Takashi Tachibana YouTube Page
* {{Authority control Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in Japan Single-issue political parties Television in Japan Political parties in Japan Right-wing populist parties Populism in Japan Direct democracy parties NHK