Arrests for violation of Act on Maintenance of Tranquility of Areas around the National Diet Building, and Foreign Diplomatic Establishments, etc. (1 case, 3 persons)

Suspension or cancellation orders (94 cases), recommendations (132 cases), on-site inspections (3 cases) based on the Noise Ordinance

Arrests for extortion, defamation, and violation of the Act on Punishment of Physical Violence and Others (56 cases, 106 persons)

### 4. Trends in the Japanese Communist Party

## (1) Trends in the Japanese Communist Party

The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) fielded 152 candidates for single-seat constituencies and 79 candidates for proportional representation (of which 60 candidates also ran in single-seat constituencies) in the House of Representatives election in August 2009. Of these candidates, nine were elected for proportional representation, with the JCP retaining the pre-election strength. In a statement on the results of the general election, the JCP Standing Executive Committee said, "Considering the adverse conditions, the JCP put up a good fight in just retaining the number of seats it held before the election and increasing the number of votes cast for the JCP." A report presented at the JCP Central Committee 9th Plenum held in October 2009 said that the party is not strong enough to wage a strong election campaign and that the biggest lesson to be drawn from the general election is that the JCP at the time of the election was not stronger than it was in the previous general election. The 9th Plenum subsequently decided to set the "special campaign period" to create a major upsurge in the drive to increase the party membership.

Following the inauguration of the new government, the resolution adopted at the JCP 25th Congress held in January 2010 characterized a new period in Japanese politics as the “transitional situation,” and made it clear the party’s policy remains unchanged by emphasizing the need to overcome the “two aberrations” (“Japan’s extraordinary subservience to the United States” and the “tyrannical rule of large corporations and the business circles”) as outlined in the JCP manifesto.

Diagram 4-14 Trends in the Numbers of Seats the JCP Won in the House of Representatives General Election (1946-2009)

## (2) Developments Related to the Democratic Youth League of Japan

The Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ) held the 34th National Convention in Tokyo in November 2009, with more than 200 delegates and councilors participating. At the convention, it was reported that about 2,400 new members joined the DYLJ in the two years following the 33rd National Convention held in November 2007 but that the DYLJ membership has kept decreasing.

Head of the JCP Central Committee Secretariat

Tadayoshi Ichida attended the 34th National

Convention and gave a speech, in which he said “as a

party to act as a counselor of the DYLJ, the JCP will

drastically increase assistance to the DYLJ by

understanding activities, efforts and difficulties of the

DYLJ well and exercising its ‘ability to listen’ and

help rebuild DYLJ district committees as a ‘joint

undertaking of the DYLJ and the JCP’.”

### 5. Developments Related to Popular Movements

## (1) Extreme Anti-Globalization Movements at International Conferences

During 2009, on the occasion of the G-20 financial summit held in London, Britain, in April, some 4,000 anti-globalization people gathered for protest actions, and some rowdy participants broke into a bank building by smashing its window glasses, with over 80 of them arrested. Also at the G-20 financial summit held in Pittsburgh, the United States, in September, a total of about 7,000 people took part in protest actions, including unauthorized street demonstrations, with some participants taking to violent acts, such as destroying shops, leading to the arrests of some 200 people. At the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate