View source for New Party Sakigake

{{short description|Former political party in Japan}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox political party
| native_name = {{nobold|{{Nihongo2|新党さきがけ}}}}<br />{{lang|ja-Latn|Shintō Sakigake}}
| logo        = New Party Sakigake logo.svg
| split       = {{ublist
 | [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] ([[Liberal conservativism|Liberal conservative]] faction)<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=William D.|editor-last=Hoover|title=Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Exa7XoW-1n8C&pg=PA211|year=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7539-5|page=211}}</ref>
 | [[Japan New Party]]
 | [[Socialist Democratic Federation (Japan)|Socialist Democratic Federation]]
}}
| founder     = Masayoshi Takemura
| foundation  = 1993
| dissolved   = 31 October 2004
| ideology    = {{ublist
 | [[Liberalism]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheiner |first=Ethan |year=2006 |title=Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSkNKiFNL94C&pg=PT1 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=41 |isbn=978-0-521-60969-2 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=In 1993, partly inspired by the JNP's initial success, sitting LDP incumbents split form the party to form two new ones, the 35-member ''Shinsei'' party, and the smaller and more liberal ''Sakigake''. }}</ref>
 | [[Reformism]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Park |first=Gene |editor-last1=Gaunder |editor-first1=Alisa |year=2011 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdwEocAa3nYC&pg=PT274 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=274 |isbn=978-0-203-82987-5 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=This problem was difficult for Hashimoto, since his government formed through coalition with two junior partners—the reformist New Party Harbinger (Shintō Sakigake) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP, formerly the Japan Socialist Party/JSP). }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mendl |first=Wolf |year=1997 |title=Japan's Asia Policy: Regional Security and Global Interests |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_SFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT272 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=272 |isbn=0-415-16466-4 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=It is more significant that the three new reformist parties which contested the election—Shinseito (Japan Renewal Party), Nihon Shinto (Japan New Party) and Sakigake (Harbinger Party)—were all led by former politicians of the LDP. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schreurs |first=Miranda A. |editor-last1=Kopstein |editor-first1=Jeffrey |editor-link1=Jeffrey Kopstein |editor-last2=Lichbach |editor-first2=Mark |editor-last3=Hanson |editor-first3=Stephen E. |year=2014 |title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXjsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT181 |edition=fourth |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=181 |isbn=978-0-521-13574-0 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=New Party Sakigake, a conservative, reformist party with ecologist sympathies that formed in 1993, for example, changed its name to the Sakigake Party in 1998. }}</ref>
* ''{{ill|Shitsujitsu kokka|ja|質実国家}}''{{efn|''Shitsujitsu kokka'' (a nation of quality and substance)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metzger-Court |first1=Sarah |last2=Pascha |first2=Werner |year=2016 |title=Japan's Socio-Economic Evolution: Continuity and Change |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDZdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=178 |isbn=978-1138973732 |access-date=23 July 2020 }}</ref> is a political ideal of the New Party Sakigake. According to [[Shusei Tanaka]]'s remark, it means aiming for high-quality and substantive nation-building.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://webronza.asahi.com/politics/articles/2019070900001.html?page=3 |last=Tanaka |first=Shusei |author-link=Shusei Tanaka |date=12 July 2019 |website=webronza.asahi.com |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun Company|Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.]] |page=3 |language=ja |script-title=ja:今も生きる新党さきがけの五つの理念 |trans-title=The five ideas of the New Party Sakigake that still alive |access-date=23 July 2020 |quote={{lang|ja|質の高い、実（じつ）のある国づくりを目指すという言うことだ。}} }}</ref> }}
}}
| position   = [[Centrism|Centre]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Ido |first=Masanobu |editor-last1=Magara |editor-first1=Hideko |year=2014 |title=Economic Crises and Policy Regimes: The Dynamics of Policy Innovation and Paradigmatic Change |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuoyAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT247 |publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]] |page=247 |isbn=978-1-78254-992-5 |oclc=1036733892 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=The original DPJ was established in 1996 after Yukio Hatoyama, of the small centre party Sakigake, called for a new party, which led to the participation of politicians form both Sakigake and the JSP. }}</ref> to [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]]<ref>The New Party Sakigake has been widely described as centre-left: {{bulleted list
|{{cite book|editor=Jean-Marie Bouissou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xuCEakYXebMC&pg=PA284 |title=Japan: The Burden of Success |quote= The founders of the Sakigake were made of centre-left, liberal and pacifist material. |date=2002 |page=284 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |isbn=9781850655695 }}
|{{cite book |last=Kamikubo |first=Masato |editor-last1=Kuhnle |editor-first1=Stein |editor-last2=Selle |editor-first2=Per |editor-last3=Hort |editor-first3=Sven E.O. |year=2019 |title=Globalizing welfare: an evolving Asian-European dialogue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OD6tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1 |publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]] |page=91 |isbn=978-1-78897-584-1 |oclc=1119625016 |access-date=20 September 2021 |quote=It consisted of the former Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ) group (left wing), former Japan New Party and the New Party Sakigake (centre left) and the former New Frontier Party (conservative, consisting of a former Democratic Socialist Party group and a former LDP group) (Takenaka 2005). }}
|{{cite book|editor=Ian Neary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64-ZDwAAQBAJ&dq=centre-left+Sakigake&pg=PT82 |title=The State and Politics In Japan |quote= On 21 June a small centre-left party was formed calling itself Shintō Sakigake (New Harbinger Party). |date=2015 |page=98 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=9781509535859 }}
|{{cite book|editor1=Allen Hicken |editor2=Erik Martinez Kuhonta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZmiBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=Japan: The Burden of Success |quote= Some center-left opposition parties, including JSP and Sakigake dissidents, formed the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). |date=2015 |page=98 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9781107041578 }}}}</ref>
| colorcode = {{party color|New Party Sakigake}}
| colours   = {{ublist
 | {{color box|#006FDA}} [[Light blue]] (official)
 | {{color box|{{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}} [[Dark blue (color)|Dark blue]] (customary)
}}
| country   = Japan
}}

The {{Nihongo|'''New Party Sakigake'''|新党さきがけ|Shintō Sakigake}}, also known as the '''New Harbinger Party''', was a [[list of political parties in Japan|political party in Japan]] that broke away from the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] (LDP) on 22 June 1993.<ref>{{cite book | last = Holler | first = Manfred Joseph  | title = Power and Fairness | publisher = Mohr Siebeck | year = 2002 | pages = 304 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9CD22s4kyIUC&dq=%22New+Party+Sakigake%22+june+22+1993&pg=PA304| isbn = 3-16-147729-4}}</ref>  The party was created by [[Masayoshi Takemura]]. The party was centrist, and had many [[reformist]] and even moderate ecological elements. The theoretical leader was [[Shusei Tanaka]]. [[Yukio Hatoyama]] and [[Naoto Kan]] also took part but later moved to the [[Democratic Party of Japan]].{{cn|date=November 2023}}

==History==
After the [[1993 Japanese general election|1993 general election]], Sakigake joined a Cabinet led by [[Morihiro Hosokawa]]. It was the first government without the LDP since 1955. Sakigake's [[Masayoshi Takemura]] became Minister. Sakigake supported the following [[Tsutomu Hata]] Cabinet, but didn't join the Cabinet.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

In 1994, New Party Sakigake took part in the government of Murayama Tomiichi, a government coalition of the LDP and the [[Social Democratic Party (Japan)|Japan Socialist Party]], which replaced the coalition government headed the previous year by the [[Japan Renewal Party]].{{cn|date=November 2023}}

In September 1996, Sakigake and [[Social Democratic Party (Japan)|Japan Socialist Party]] politicians who did not support their respective parties alliances with the LDP broke away to found the [[Democratic Party of Japan (1996)|Democratic Party of Japan]].<ref name="Curtis2013">{{cite book|author=Gerald L. Curtis|title=The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHS5Eew3ce0C&pg=PA193|year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50254-2|pages=193}}</ref>

The exodus of these liberal members moved the party further to the right. In 1997, the New Party Sakigake had two members in the House of Representatives and three members in the House of Councillors, which was good for them, especially after the LDP became the ruling party again. However, it decided to moderate its stance, and, because of the power of the ecologist and reformist factions, the conservatives decided to reform the party. As part of the ruling coalition in 1998, it had 2 seats in the House of Representatives and 3 in the House of Councillors. In October 1998, the party reformed itself with a more conservative image, dropping the 'New' from its title to become simply the ''Sakigake Party''.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Its popularity heavily declined after that, and by 2001, the party had no seats in either the Lower or Upper House. In 2002, the ecologists took control, and turned the party into an ecologist party. It changed its name to {{ill|Midori no kaigi|es|Midori no Kaigi|ja|みどりの会議}}, the '''Environmental Green Political Assembly''', which, because it won no seats in the 2004 Parliamentary elections, dissolved itself on 31 October 2004.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

The party gained its followers mainly from white collar bureaucrats and ecologists. It was a conservative reformist party with ecological elements.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

==List of leaders of NPS==
{|class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan=2|No.
!rowspan="2"|Name
!colspan=2|Term of office
|-
!Took office
!Left office
|-
|bgcolor="lightblue" colspan="5"|'''Split from: [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]]'''
|-
|1
|[[Masayoshi Takemura]]
|18 June 1993
|30 August 1996
|-
|2
|{{ill|Shōichi Ide|ja|井出正一}}
|30 August 1996
|22 October 1996
|-
|—
|[[Akiko Dōmoto]]
|22 October 1996
|6 May 1998
|-
|3
|[[Masayoshi Takemura]]
|6 May 1998
|3 July 2000
|-
|4
|[[Atsuo Nakamura]]
|3 July 2000
|16 January 2002
|}

==Election results==

===House of Representatives ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
! Election year
! Candidates
! # of seats won
! Change
! Status
|-
! [[1993 Japanese general election|1993]]
| 16
| {{Composition bar|13|511|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| style="text-align:center;"|{{steady}}
| {{yes2|Government}}
|-
! [[1996 Japanese general election|1996]]
| 15
| {{Composition bar|2|500|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| style="text-align:center;"|{{decrease}} 11
| {{partial|Non-cabinet affiliated}}
|-
! [[2000 Japanese general election|2000]]
| 12
| {{Composition bar|0|480|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| style="text-align:center;"|{{decrease}} 2
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|}

===House of Councillors ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ [[House of Councillors (Japan)|House of Councillors]]
! rowspan=2 | Election year
! colspan=2 | Seats
! rowspan=2 | Status
|-
! Total
! Contested
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[1995 Japanese House of Councillors election|1995]]
| {{Composition bar|3|252|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{Composition bar|3|126|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{yes2|Government}}
|-
! [[1998 Japanese House of Councillors election|1998]]
| {{Composition bar|3|252|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{Composition bar|0|126|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! [[2001 Japanese House of Councillors election|2001]]
| {{Composition bar|1|247|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{Composition bar|0|126|hex={{party color|New Party Sakigake}}}}
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|}

== See also ==
*{{ill|Midori no kaigi|ja|みどりの会議}}
*[[Politics of Japan]]
*[[List of political parties in Japan]]
*[[Timeline of liberal parties in Japan]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19970430085833/http://www.coara.or.jp/~sakigake/ Archive.org copy of former website]

{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan}}
{{Democratic Party of Japan (1996)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Liberal parties in Japan]]
[[Category:Centrist parties in Japan]]
[[Category:Centre-left parties in Asia]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Japan]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1993]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2004]]
[[Category:1993 establishments in Japan]]
[[Category:2004 disestablishments in Japan]]