On June 15, DP President Katsuya Okada announced the DP’s election platform for the forthcoming Upper House election: The Democratic Party’s Priority Policies: Our Promise to the People.
Okada stated, “Our era is now at a turning point.  At such a moment, there are two main points of debate.  We have set forth our actual policies in Our Promise to the People based on these points.”  He added, “There are eleven pledges included in Our Promise to the People, but the two pledges on the back cover “We Will Rebuild the Economy and People’s Lives” and “We Will Protect the Pacifist Principles of the Constitution” have been singled out and written separately. These two pledges themselves will form the main issues in the Upper House election.”
Okada went on to say, “Prime Minister Abe has said that ‘The DP have no concrete policies’, but to that I would reply, ‘Look who’s talking!”. The basic premise of our economic policies is achieving both growth and the distribution of wealth.”  He added that the DP’s basic philosophy had been produced after approximately a year’s discussion in the Headquarters for Constructing a Society Based on Mutual Coexistence headed by Deputy President Akira Nagatsuma.  He went on to criticize the Abe administration for having in contrast only managed to come up with a policy superficially similar to that of the DP, by calling for the ‘dynamic engagement of all 10 billion citizens’ 
Okada stressed, “I would like you to read this for our concrete policies, but I intend to continue stating that we have produced policies that aim to thoroughly achieve ‘both growth and distribution of wealth.’  Realising this goal will lead to sustainable economic growth.”

Asked by a reporter why the party had decided to stop calling its electoral platform a ‘manifesto’, Okada explained, “’manifesto’ translates as ‘platform for government’.  In view of the fact that the Upper House election is not a fight for a change of government, we decided to use the expression ‘Our Promise to the People’.  In any case “Our Promise to the People” is an extremely weighty expression.  We have carefully wrote down policies that are possible for us to fulfill.”
Okada was asked once more for his opinion on revising Article 9 of the Constitution, which he had described as one of the “two main points of debate” in the election.  He responded, “I believe that it is not necessary to revise Article 9 at present. Prime Minister Abe is aiming to change Paragraph 2 of Article 9 to permit unrestricted exercise of the right to collective self-defence. We must not allow this to happen.  It is directly opposed to the pacifist principles of the Constitution.”

Okada also commented on the foundation of the DP, and particularly when he was asked whether his opinion that this was the “last chance” remained unchanged.  He replied that his feelings remained unchanged, stating, “If we are not able to put a stop to out-of-control Abe politics and change the direction of politics at this Upper House election, then the current LDP politics will probably in a very short space of time continue on in a very extreme form.  If we decide to turn right at this crossroads, it will not be easy for us to retrace our path.  That is why I described this as our ‘last chance’.”
Both the LDP and Komeito have recently been using the phrase ‘a positive cycle of growth and distribution of wealth’, which is similar to the DP’s ‘achieving both growth and distribution of wealth’.  Okada was asked what the difference between the two was.  He replied, “I would rather you asked Prime Minister Abe that question.  That is what I said in last year’s Prime Minister’s Question Time…’positive cycle’ means that the fruits of economic growth are distributed, in other words any excess tax revenues will be applied to nursing care and child-rearing, but this way of thinking is in itself a mistake.  The division of budget funds itself needs to be rearranged, and a stable source of revenue should be obtained.”
Following this, Chair of DP Special Committee on key policies for the Upper House election, Deputy President Nagatsuma, explained the details of Our Promises to the People and Policy Research Committee Chair Shiori Yamao explained the premises of each of the eleven pledges.
Nagatsuma stated proudly, “We have asked for opinions from Diet members and local assembly members to a degree unprecedented, and produced this document.  I am very proud of it…He stated that the three pillars for achieving both growth and distribution of wealth are “investment in people”, “a revolution in Japanese work culture” and a “growth strategy” and added, “Our perception of the issue is that ‘Growing inequalities and skewed distribution of wealth and opportunities are preventing people from reaching their full potential and obstructing personal consumption.’  The fact that Prime Minister Abe has failed to pay attention to this is the crux of the matter.”  Okada went on to touch on the issues of peace, politics and money, saying, “Currently, inequalities are growing and the abilities of children and young people are being crushed.  I am afraid that Japan is starting to change into a terrible polarized society.  I would like shift to investment in people through fair distribution of wealth, and by focusing on this create a sustainable society and economy.”
Yamao explained about the eleven pledges set forth in Our Promise to the People: 1. Economic affluence begins with enriching ordinary people, 2. Children first, 3. Protect workers and change the Japanese work culture, 4. Changing society through women’s voices, 5. Preserving the peace of mind of seniors, 6. We will not pass on the burden to future generations, 7. Reconstructing local economies, 8. Reconstructing disaster affected areas and strengthening disaster prevention, 9. We will defend our country and contribute to the international community, 10. Defending the pacifism enshrined in our constitution, 11. Defending the freedom and rights of the people.
In addition, Yamao said “We have submitted sixty-four bills sponsored by Diet members to the Diet during the ordinary Diet session. I hear that fifty-six government-sponsored bills were submitted, so we have submitted greater number of counter-proposals than that. I believe this figure highlights the fact that ‘The ruling parties are trying to evade counter-proposals’. I would like us to campaign under the banner of being ‘a political party that can produce counter-proposals’ while appealing to the public with Our Promise to the People.”
Regarding the incursion into Japanese territorial waters by a Chinese navy reconnaissance ship
Prior to the press conference to announce Our Promise to the People, Okada commented to the press on the intrusion into Japanese territorial waters by a Chinese naval reconnaissance ship in the early hours of the same day.  Okada stated, “The Japanese government say that they are in the process of confirming whether or not this is a case of ‘innocent passage’※but whatever the facts of the matter, it is an extremely ambiguous action and I would like to call on the Chinese government to ensure that acts that increase tension in such a manner do not occur.”  Okada expressed concerns about the state of crisis management in the Prime Minister’s Office, saying, “One wrong step and this could have become a very serious incident. If this was in fact not a case of innocent passage, then Japan would need to consider her territorial security.  The fact that both the Chief Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister have gone to campaign in the regions, leaving the Prime Minister’s Office empty, despite the fact that something of this significance had occurred, is totally disgraceful.” 
A reporter asked Okada for his opinion regarding the fact that the Japanese government had not issued a maritime security alert order or issued a protest to the Chinese Ambassador.  He criticized the government for their lack of action, saying, “[Considering the Chinese ship is said to have left Japan’s territorial waters at approximately 5.30 am.] I find it incomprehensible that the government still cannot determine whether it was an innocent passage or not at this moment in time (1 pm on June 15).  The motivations of the Chinese are important, but it is Japan who should make the judgement, and that should not be determined by China’s view of the matter.” 
※The right of any vessel to pass through the territorial waters of another nation without giving advanced notice to that nation, provided that it does not engage in any behaviour that would damage the peace, order or security of that nation.