Overview
- At its 93rd party convention, the Liberal Democratic Party approved a 2026 plan to set up drafting committees in both houses’ constitutional review panels to prepare amendment text for submission.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said “the time has come” and set a goal of reaching a stage where an amendment proposal could be readied for Diet initiation before the next party convention.
- Constitutional change in Japan needs a two‑thirds vote in both chambers of the Diet and a national referendum, so the new drafting committees are a political organizing move rather than a legal change.
- South Africa will not attend the upcoming G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Washington after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the United States, as chair, did not approve its participation, an unusual exclusion reported by Bloomberg.
- In local voting, Yoshinogari’s incumbent mayor won a third term despite a panel’s finding of power‑harassing remarks tied to a subordinate who later died, Obihiro’s mayoral race drew a 47.14% turnout that was the third‑lowest since 1947, and sports headlines featured Japan trailing Italy early in the Billie Jean King Cup, a TKO win that gave Tenshin Nasukawa a WBC title shot, and three Japanese players reaching table tennis finals in Taiyuan.