[Press Conference/Misa Maeda] 6/16 Announcement of Official Candidate for the House of Councillors Election in the Hyogo Prefecture Constituency for the New Party "Team Mirai"
Greetings from Party Leader Takahiro Yasuno
Thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this press conference for "Team Mirai" today.
Today, the new party "Team Mirai" is announcing its official candidate for the upcoming July House of Councillors election in the Hyogo Prefecture constituency.
Regarding our official candidates, we have selected them based on the following points: individuals who are active on the front lines of society with their respective expertise and individuals who deeply understand the philosophy of Team Mirai and are capable of actually working hard and putting in the effort for Japan once they enter national politics.
I am confident that Misa Maeda, the official candidate we are introducing today, embodies the philosophy and values of "Team Mirai" and is a person who can do her utmost to realize a "bright future" for everyone. I would now like to proceed with the announcement of our official candidate.
From Misa Maeda (Official Candidate for the Hyogo Prefecture Constituency)
My name is Misa Maeda, and I am the official candidate for the Hyogo Prefecture constituency from the new party Team Mirai.
After graduating from university, I moved to Sannomiya in Hyogo Prefecture at the age of 22. I spent much of my 20s working in Sannomiya and Rokko Island, traveling to various places within Hyogo Prefecture on weekends, eating delicious food, and being surrounded by beautiful scenery and buildings.
The reason I decided to pursue politics was when I gave birth to my child six months after losing my mother following her battle with illness.
During my mother's illness and nursing care, I was greatly helped by administrative support. Although medical expenses were covered at a 30% co-pay, the High-Cost Medical Expense Benefit system allowed me to keep expenses down to a certain extent, so I did not have to give up on treatment due to money.
Also, as the number of things my mother could not do increased day by day, I struggled to balance nursing care and work. When I was thinking about whether I should quit my job, an acquaintance told me to contact a care manager. When I called, they visited my home the very next day. After receiving long-term care certification and switching to long-term care insurance, various support services such as visiting nursing, home helpers, and rental of nursing care equipment were introduced all at once, and I was somehow able to balance work with caring for my mother until her passing.
Six months later, my child was born. When I was applying for the Maternal and Child Health Handbook, the public health nurse saw that I was more preoccupied with my mother than my child, and she provided information on postpartum care facilities and postpartum doulas. I was also greatly helped by administrative support related to various child-rearing services, such as subsidies for prenatal checkups, childbirth lump-sum grants, nursery school hunting, and nursery school enrollment.
While going through nursing care and childbirth during the same period, I felt both the commonalities and differences firsthand.
As for the commonalities, everyone involved treated me with sincerity.
Each and every care manager, visiting nurse, home helper, public health nurse, midwife, and nursery teacher did their absolute best in their respective roles. On the other hand, there are many things that you cannot use unless you know about the system itself or apply for them, and I often look back and think, "What would have happened if I hadn't called the care manager at that time?" or "If I had known sooner, could I have balanced child-rearing and work a little better?"
The difference is money.
My mother's medical expenses, nursing care expenses, and nursing care equipment such as nursing beds and walkers were provided with little out-of-pocket expense depending on her annual income and nursing care status. For child-rearing, there were large out-of-pocket expenses for each prenatal checkup and at the time of childbirth. There were many costs, including monthly nursery school fees, large childcare goods like strollers and car seats, and the accumulation of small expenses due to the rapid cycle of childcare goods and clothes according to the child's age. Diapers could be obtained for free at the welfare center for nursing care, but for child-rearing, I had to buy them myself. However, although my annual income or that of my household might have been higher than my mother's, my mother had more economic power if you include assets.
I believe that a similar structure is occurring in various parts of Japan. Of course, since there are as many lives as there are people, I also think it is not something that can be easily compared even if there is economic power at that point, taking into account future work, income, and expenditures.However, the self-pay rate for health insurance divided by age and the various systems that only take annual income into account as economic power are tormenting the working generation who do not yet have assets. With about half of young people also repaying university student loans, I feel this is one of the reasons why they cannot have hope for the future, including marriage and childbirth.
If we enter a further declining birthrate and aging population with this structure in place, I do not think it will be possible for Japan's finances or the working generation to hold up in the future. I do not know if this structure is not being redesigned because the support base to lose is large, because priority is given to surviving the term of office, or because the redesign of the structure is planned for the future but has not surfaced, but I believe it is a part that must definitely be reformed for the future of Japan.
I mentioned earlier that there are as many lives as there are people, but dialogue with relatives over the age of 80 was indispensable for me to overcome the sadness of my mother's death. Having lived through the war and post-war reconstruction of Japan, a time when society and culture were different from today and there were many hardships, they had a strong, tolerant, and philosophical view of life after experiencing many sad events. To me, who could not accept my mother's death, their supple strength taught me how to walk through life with sadness. And even though their own lives were not without inconveniences, they would leak that while they were grateful that everything from rehabilitation and compresses to gathering with acquaintances in the clinic waiting room was covered at a 10% co-pay, they felt sorry for the young people.
I work at a mental health startup that has a psychiatric visiting nursing business. Among the users, there are people receiving public assistance, people living a tightrope life cutting back on living expenses as the day for receiving their pension approaches, and people who cannot receive public assistance due to their parents' income but are living on 300 yen a day for food. There are various people. Whether they are in the working generation, the employment ice age generation, or the elderly generation, there are people in every generation who find it difficult to live their daily lives, such as those who always need medical expenses or those who would be unable to pay if they suddenly became ill.Through dialogue with my respected relatives, I strongly realized that instead of thinking in terms of a dichotomy between the elderly and the working generation, we should be able to help each other, learn from each other, and share both suffering and joy. Team Mirai believes that in order to face the same direction, it would be better to redesign social security by prioritizing the effectiveness of medical care rather than social security divided by age.
Since it will be more complex than the current medical fee system divided by age and annual income, the use of technology such as AI will be indispensable. Team Mirai has the power to put that into action. I also think that an increase in the proportion of highly effective treatments and the progress of receipt automation will lead to job satisfaction and operational efficiency for medical professionals and administrative staff who are working sincerely.I believe this form is the optimal solution for guaranteeing Japan's high standard of medical care and for a redesign of social security that can realistically withstand the future. And I believe that it is essential to work on it to brighten Japan's future, and that the only way to redesign social security is to challenge national politics. That is why I have decided to run from Hyogo Prefecture this time.
Hyogo Prefecture is a place filled with many memories of my 20s. And recently, there have been movements in Hyogo Prefecture's politics that are rarely seen in other prefectures, and I feel that your interest in and sensitivity to politics are close to my own belief that we should "deliver the will of the people to politics." I wanted to enter the midst of that and hear your voices directly.
We at Team Mirai are a new party that will use technology to break through the status quo in politics for the future of Japan. I would like to introduce Misa Maeda, the official candidate for the Hyogo Prefecture constituency for the new party Team Mirai. Thank you very much.
Announced June 16, 2025: Profile of New Party "Team Mirai" Official Candidate
[Hyogo Prefecture Constituency] Misa Maeda
Born February 9, 1992, from Nakano Ward, Tokyo. Executive at a mental health startup. After graduating from Joshi Gakuin Junior and Senior High School, she entered the Faculty of Economics at Keio University. After graduation, she worked at the foreign-owned consumer goods manufacturer P&G Japan, with postings in Kobe, Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa), and Tokyo, before serving as CFO/COO of a mental health startup that handles businesses such as psychiatric home nursing.
General Branch Manager for the House of Councillors Hyogo Prefecture Constituency for the new party "Team Mirai." Mother of one child.
Misa Maeda Official X: https://x.com/MisaMaedaMirai
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