was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...

political party in Japan In Japan, any organization that supports a candidate needs to register itself as a political party. Each of these parties have some local or national influence. This article lists political parties in Japan with representation in the National ...

founded by Tokyo Governor

Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...

. The party was founded just before the call of the 2017 general election. The party's ideology was mainly Japanese conservatism and nationalism. Kibō no Tō merged with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...

to form the

Democratic Party for the People The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope''). In September 2020 a majority of the part ...

on 7 May 2018. However, some

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

members decided to form a new party with the same name. In October 2021, the party disbanded a second time.

History

In 2016's

gubernatorial election A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of politica ...

, Governor Koike was elected as the Governor with membership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even though she was not the official candidate of the party.The official candidate was

Hiroya Masuda is a Japanese politician, government official, and business executive. He was Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications from August 2007 to September 2008, and has served as the president and CEO of Japan Post Holdings since January 2020. ...

. Then, she formed a regional party:

Tomin First no Kai is a regional political party in Tokyo, Japan. The party was founded by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in 2017. Koike later stepped down as the party's leader and is no longer officially affiliated with the party, however her policies and ima ...

, which was founded for the 2017 metropolitan election. The Komeito party supported Governor Koike in the metropolitan council, even though they were part of the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with the LDP at the national level. At this time, the party was described as

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...

. Then, on 25 September 2017, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had called October 2017 general election, Koike announced that she will found a national party called Kibō no Tō based on the Tomin First no Kai. Because Kibō no Tō at the time declared it as a centrist liberal party, the support rate of it was once ranked the second among political parties in Japan briefly after its foundation. The largest opposing party

(DP) at the time, troubled by its continuous low support rate since 2012, announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the 2017 general election because

Seiji Maehara is a Japanese politician and was the leader of the Democratic Party from 1 September 2017 until its dissolution later that month.

, a conservative in DP and the leader of DP at the time, decided to start the merger with Kibō no Tō. The DP caucus in the House of Representatives disbanded, with many of the party's existing representatives contesting the election as candidates for Kibō no Tō. This led to the split on 2 October 2017 of the Constitutional Democratic Party, which consists of left-leaning and liberal DP politicians whom Koike had rejected as Kibō no Tō candidates. It was reported that the Kibō no Tō is tightly connected to some far-right organizations like Ganbare Nippon founded by

Satoru Mizushima is a Japanese filmmaker and nationalist. He graduated from Waseda University majoring in German literature. He can often be seen and heard during nationalist rallies in Tokyo, especially during anti-Chinese protests. He denies Japan's destructive ...

. Some members of Kibō no Tō, like

Nariaki Nakayama is a Japanese politician who has served as leader of Kibō no Tō from 2019 to 2021. He served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in the Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi and later as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, ...

, are far-rightist, too. The support rate of Kibō no Tō then dramatically decreased before the election and finally it only won 50 seats, even lower than the newly-founded

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan The (CDP or CDPJ) is a social-liberal political party in Japan. It was founded in October 2017 as a split from the Democratic Party ahead of the 2017 general election. In late 2020, the party was re-founded following a merger with majoriti ...

. On 10 November 2017, the party held a

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

to elect a co-leader of the party. Yūichirō Tamaki was elected in the caucus election by a margin of 39 to 14. Koike resigned as party leader on 14 November 2017 as a result of the poor performance in the general election, leaving Tamaki as a sole leader. On 24 April 2018, the leadership of Kibō and the

announced in a joint press conference that both parties agreed to merge in May 2018 under the name

(DPFP). Several factions in both parties do not plan to join the new party. The members of these factions are expected to form their own splinter party, join other parties or become independents.

Post-DPFP merger reestablishment

Prior to the merger, far-right members of Kibō led by

Shigefumi Matsuzawa is a Japanese politician and a current member of the House of Councillors for the Kanagawa at-large district in the Diet of Japan. A native of Kawasaki, Kanagawa and graduate of Keio University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, h ...

stated that they intended to form a separate party that retains the Kibō no Tō name. The party was formed on 7 May 2018, on the same day with the DPFP merger. On 5 June 2018, Former Secretary-general

Kuniko Koda is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). Early life and education Koda was born in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, on 8 September 1965. She graduated from International Christian Univers ...

left the party, so Kibō no Tō lost its legal status as a political party and became a political organization. On 28 May 2019, Matsuzawa resigned as party leader, and

became the new party leader. On 10 October 2021, Nakayama, the only member of the Diet, did not run for the next House of Representatives election and indicated his intention to retire from politics. On the 18th of the same month, Nakayama officially announced his retirement at a press conference, revealing that the Party of Hope, which he represented, had dissolved on the 1st of the same month.

Presidents of party

Election results

House of Representatives

Footnotes

Logos

Logo of Kibō no Tō.svg, (2017–2018) Kibo no To Logo.png, (2018–2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibo no To 2017 establishments in Japan 2018 establishments in Japan 2018 disestablishments in Japan 2021 disestablishments in Japan Conservative parties in Japan Far-right politics in Japan Far-right political parties Nationalist parties in Japan Politics of Japan Political parties established in 2017 Political parties established in 2018 Political parties disestablished in 2018 Political parties disestablished in 2021 Right-wing populism in Japan Right-wing populist parties