The agreement between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) leader Hirofumi Yoshimura on revisions to a bill establishing a backup capital is a step toward fulfilling an October 2025 pact between the Liberal Democratic Party and the JIP. That deal gave LDP President Takaichi the needed votes to become prime minister and form a ruling coalition.

The parties were expected to submit the bill to parliament Wednesday evening.

With the move, Takaichi has signaled she will continue to listen closely to the JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, despite concerns within her own party over not only the backup capital concept, but also other controversial bills pushed by Yoshimura and his party that the LDP agreed to, including one to slash the number of seats in the lower chamber by 10%.

Trying too hard to please the JIP could complicate Takaichi¡¯s own relationship with LDP members who are wary of reducing seats or are pushing to expand the coalition with other opposition parties such as the Democratic Party for the People, which could find itself at an electoral disadvantage if the seat reduction bill is passed.

Political commentator Tetsuo Suzuki says that, in agreeing to a bill to establish a backup capital that could carry on government functions if an emergency rendered Tokyo unable to do so, Takaichi was going for maximum political stability in her government.

¡°While the LDP has a two-thirds majority in the Lower House, it needs the JIP to help it get bills passed in the Upper House. The LDP simply cannot function without the JIP in the coalition. So, Takaichi¡¯s stance is essentially to just go along with them,¡± Suzuki said.

Takaichi and Yoshimura are also racing against the clock to fulfill the terms of the October 2025 agreement, which included a promise to enact legislation to establish a backup capital by the end of the current parliamentary session scheduled to end on July 17.

With little time remaining before the end of the session, however, it¡¯s unclear if the bill can be debated and passed.

The two parties also agreed last November to introduce a bill that would cut the 465-seat Lower House by 10%, another major goal of the JIP.

Despite concerns among both opposition and some LDP members about the measure, on June 11, the LDP approved a bill that will automatically eliminate 45 of the 176 proportional representation seats if a ruling-opposition panel fails to reach a deal on more general electoral system reform, including a cut in Lower House seats, within one year.

There¡¯s concern among some LDP members about this bill, as well as among opposition parties like the Democratic Party...