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The Ministry of Finance Dismantling Demonstration was first held in front of the Ministry of Finance in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo on January 31, 2025, and has since been held at the following dates, times, locations, and scales. January 31, 2025 - Kasumigaseki, Tokyo (in front of the Ministry of Finance)

 

Number of participants: Approximately 3,000 people

 

February 15, 2025 - In front of the Kinki Finance Bureau, Osaka

 

Number of participants: Approximately 2,500 people

 

March 12, 2025 - In front of the Kyushu Finance Bureau, Fukuoka

 

Number of participants: Approximately 1,800 people

 

March 14, 2025 - Nationwide simultaneous demonstration

 

Locations: Sapporo (Hokkaido Finance Bureau), Tokyo (in front of the Ministry of Finance main gate), Nagoya (Tokai Finance Bureau), Osaka (Kinki Finance Bureau), Fukui (Hokuriku Finance Bureau), Hiroshima (Chugoku Finance Bureau), Takamatsu (Shikoku Finance Bureau)

 

Number of participants: Hundreds to thousands in each area

 

April 29, 2025 - Nagatacho and Kasumigaseki, Tokyo

 

Number of participants: several thousand people

 

The rally began in front of the National Diet at 11:00 a.m., gathered at the Kasumimon Gate of Hibiya Park at 12:30 p.m., and the parade demonstration started at 1:00 p.m.

 

Speeches were held in front of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare at 1:30 p.m. and in front of the Ministry of Finance at 3:30 p.m.

 

In the evening, a national rally was held at Yotsuya Civic Hall, which was fully booked.

 

The demonstration began with dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Finance's fiscal policy,
and there were particularly strong voices calling for opposition to tax increases and the abolition of the consumption tax.

 

Criticism of the Ministry of Finance began to grow around November 2024,
when the government released an estimate of the decrease in tax revenue when considering raising the "1.03 million yen annual income barrier."

 

The public's resentment against this spread on social media and developed into protests against the Ministry of Finance's fiscal management.

 

The organizer of the demonstration was Yosuke Tsukaguchi, who is the representative of the political group "New Civil Rights Party."
According to his interview, he is organizing the demonstrations not just to criticize the Treasury's policies,
but also as a movement calling for broader political reform.

 

He said that more nationwide demonstrations are planned in the future.

 

...

 

The background to these demonstrations is that in Japan, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for tax collection and budget allocation
through the National Tax Agency, and it is said that one ministry oversees tax collection and financial management.

 

This is a rare case worldwide.

 

In many countries, the tax collection agency and the financial management agency are separate.

 

For example,

 

In the United States, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is responsible for tax collection, and the Treasury manages the budget.

 

In the UK, HM Revenue & Customs is responsible for tax collection, and the Treasury manages the budget.

 

 

In Germany, taxation is done by the tax authorities of each state, while financial management is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

 

In this way, many countries have adopted a system that ensures transparency and strengthens the checking function of financial management by separating taxation and financial management.

 

On the other hand, this means that the flow of funds in Japan is opaque and the checking function of financial management is not working well.

 

There was a movement to create a revenue agency, but the Ministry of Finance resisted it desperately and it has been thwarted.

 

What many people fear is a tax investigation using the National Tax Agency, which is a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Finance.

 

Old media such as television and newspapers do not report on the demonstrations to dismantle the Ministry of Finance, fearing retaliation from the Ministry of Finance.

 

People are angry at such media organizations for manipulating and directing public opinion by obstructing the people's right to know.

 

Dirty politicians are so afraid of tax investigations that they are at the mercy of the Ministry of Finance.

 

The Ministry of Finance manages 115 trillion yen in general accounts and 429 trillion yen in special accounts.

 

Many citizens are unsure how the funds are being used, as their flow is unclear.

 

It has been unheard of since the Meiji Restoration that so many citizens have held "demonstrations to dismantle" a single central government ministry.

 

This has not happened just once, but multiple times, and it has extended not only to Kasumigaseki but also to related local government buildings.

 

So many citizens are suffering because of the Ministry of Finance's policies, and they have serious doubts.

 

The public have realized that it is bureaucrats, not politicians, who are responsible for the basic financial management of the nation,
and the foundations of democracy are being shaken.
This is the fundamental background to the demonstrations to dismantle the Ministry of Finance.