TOKYO - A demonstration demanding the abolition of the consumption tax and the restructuring of the Finance Ministry took place in front of the ministry’s headquarters in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki district on February 24th. The scene at around 5 p.m. was markedly different from the usual atmosphere.
The protest, which began at 4 p.m., saw participants filling half of the sidewalk while police managed traffic in the area.
Many attendees said they were drawn to the demonstration after watching videos online. A woman who traveled two hours to join the rally said, “I saw on YouTube that it was happening at 4 p.m. today, so I rushed to get ready and came out.”
A man from Gunma Prefecture, attending his first protest, echoed similar sentiments.
“I watch YouTube a lot, and there's a channel that reads out online news articles,” he said.
Another protester in his 50s expressed frustration over the lack of media coverage.
“No media outlet is reporting this. I can’t help but feel that they’re deliberately hiding what’s happening in the world today,” he said.
Public discontent with the Finance Ministry intensified in November 2024, when the government released an estimate showing that increasing the income threshold for taxable earnings from 1.03 million yen to 1.78 million yen, as advocated by the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), would reduce tax revenues by more than 7 trillion yen. The projection sparked backlash on social media, with criticism directed at the ministry in charge of tax policy.
These developments appear to have fueled the growing wave of protests.
A participant from Nagoya remarked, “It would be great if the ministry could be reborn as an institution that truly works for the people.”
As tax policy debates heat up, DPP Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba was in Chiba Prefecture on February 24th. When asked about the Finance Ministry protest, he commented:
“A demonstration of around 1,000 people in front of the Finance Ministry would be a big news story. Apparently, it actually happened. That’s the sentiment of the people, isn’t it? They are at their breaking point. This is the people’s outcry. As a politician, I must take their pain seriously and act accordingly.”
With public interest surging, negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties over the income threshold are entering a decisive phase this week.
Source: FNN
