Talk:New Kōmeitō Party
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I believe the affiliation between the Komeito party and Soka Gakkai has been stopped? Soka Gakkai still supports the movement, but there is no official connection (my understanding).
We'll look into it. The only obstacle is the burden of proof. JCB
No, I don't think so. Komeitou still sees itself as the political arm of Soka Gakkai. You have to be a member of the religion to join the party.
On the New Komeito homepage I think they make it fairly clear that the party and Soka Gakkai are seperate organizations. Also why is the name of this article the New Clean Government Party and not New Komeito? In all articles I've seen in English in Japan, New Komeito is used and the name the party uses on the above homepage is also New Komeito. The statement that New Komeito's aim is to institute a Buddhist democracy is also heavily POV and should be changed or justified. The comment about sending troops to Iraq while valid also sounds like POV. --Sekizaru 14:09, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
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[edit] Komeito and Soka Gakkai affiliation
This 'affiliation' is simply that Soka Gakkai members like to vote people who have same kind of ideas, other Soka Gakkai members certainly have. But, Soka Gakkai have also endorsed some candidates form othet parties, LPD for example. And in this light I don't think membership in Soka Gakkai is requirement for Komeito candidacy.
Separation of Soka Gakkai and Komeito means that if you are candidate of Komeito, you can't hold responsibility position in Soka Gakkai. This has been so since -72 I think.
I would also still like to see where exactly Daisaku Ikeda has claimed that Komeito aims to establish ND as state religion, when Komeito is PRO freedom of religion. He has many times denied this, as well as Josei Toda.
Me too, I checked there website and there they deny it. If no sources come up I will soon remove that section. Garion96 12:41, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
In my research, I have found that, although there are frequent insinuations of this sort, in fact, there is no formal affiliation between Soka Gakkai and New Komeito, other than that they share similar views and aims. As such, Soka Gakkai frequently endorses its candidates in the same way that the National Rifle Association might endorse the Republican ticket, or Green Peace might endorse a Democratic candidate.
To best understand the goals and ambitions of Soka Gakkai and its international arm, Soka Gakai International, it is best to visit their website and see for yourself. There you will find, among other things, an explanation of their political involvement.
For example,here is an excerpt from a section of the Soka Gakkai website called For the Record :
During post-World War II, Soka Gakkai's rapid growth as a movement promoting self-empowerment among the poorer sectors of Japanese society caused alarm in circles of power and in more traditional schools of Buddhism....The motivations for entering the political field were: (1) to protect the constitutional safeguard of freedom of religion and ensure that the state would never again use religion to infringe people's freedoms or justify war; (2) to represent ordinary men and women in a political system dominated by the interests of either big business or huge labor unions; and (3) to tackle government corruption and bring an ethical perspective into the Japanese political domain. It is the explicit policy of Soka Gakkai International organizations outside Japan that they will not involve themselves in politics. ...' and this:
As the number of local and national legislators endorsed by Soka Gakkai rose, they came to wield a certain influence in Japanese politics. Wishing to fulfill their political and social responsibilities, they established the Komeito ("clean government") party in 1964. The Komeito is a centrist party solely responsible for its own fundraising without financial support from the Soka Gakkai organization."
Today, Soka Gakkai in Japan, like many other major Japanese religious organizations, endorses candidates. But Soka Gakkai does not provide any financial backing to the candidates or their political parties.''
And finally, their Charter of Soka Gakkai International states it quite plainly:
"The Soka Gakkai of Japan is one of the constituent Soka Gakkai International (SGI) organizations and shares the SGI's commitment to peace, culture and education based on Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. It adheres to the SGI Charter which confirms the ideals of world citizenship, freedom of religion, and tolerance and respect for other religions."
What is interesting is how this peaceful Buddhist lay organization for peace, an outgrowth of centuries year old religion, has managed to grow from only a few hundred thousand practitioners in Japan to one including millions of Japanese, and millions more (12 million total, according to their website) from over 190 different countries in just 70 some odd years. During its history, it has faced all manner of accusation, slander, denigration, and suspicion -- yet its membership continues to grow, and is as diverse as that of the Earth itself. --151.198.99.71 16:59, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] "New Clean Government"
Counting Google hits for (1) "New Komeito", (2) "New Komeito Party", (3) "New Clean Government", (4) NKP, based on domain restrictions.
- komei.or.jp: 39,000, 3, 0, 0
- asahi.com: 196, 2, 0, 0
- cnn.com: 122, 74, 1, 0
- news.bbc.co.uk: 90, 70, 0, 0
- nytimes.com: 26, 16, 0, 0
(Note that the "to" in Komeito means "party".)
So whoever started this "New Clean Government Party" thing on Wikipedia successfully fooled CNN into using that name once. Congratulations!! —Tokek 14:44, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] I have to change all reference to "Clean Government Party" back to "Komeito"
Japanese version of New Komeito website
It officially said the English name of the party to be "New Komeito." Who made up the "New Clean Government Party" name...? Hence I have to change to prevent any confusion. Samuel Curtis 18:29, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Reference to Japanese Communist Party as coalition partner
I would like to point out a potential error in this article. I cut and paste an email posted on NBR (National Bureau of Asian Research) email "Japan Forum". The writer of this email was responding to a cut and paste I took from the wikipedia on New Komeito. I delete his name, but I would guess that he is among the top ten of Americans famous as "Japan expert" based on long residence in Japan. I believe he worked as a newspaperman.
Quoting
Mr. Ames' posting of what the Wikipedia says about the New Komeito Party is a good exhibit of why Wikipedia should not be relied upon as a source for accurate information. I don't have enough time to correct all the errors in this brief posting but to mention just the most preposterous one -- the Communist Party was NOT part of the coalition Wikipedia cites as follows:
> in 1993, when the LDP was for the first time declared an opposition party, the Komeito became one of the ruling parties, headed by the liberal Japan Renewal Party , but which also included the Japanese Communist Party, Japan New Party , the New Party Sakigake , and the Japan Socialist Party. <
