The Japanese Communist Party (JCP), founded in 1922, is the longest-lasting political party in Japan. And today it is the largest opposition at the local level of the country's political arena.

The JCP has approximately 320,000 members belonging to about 22,000 branches, with 2,700 municipal assembly members. It holds 21 seats in the House of Representatives after the general election in December and 11 in the House of Councilors.

Although this is distant from the peak when the JCP took 41 seats in the Lower House in 1979, it is the only party that has kept growing its number of seats after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power in 2012.

According to surveys by TV Asahi, since Abe took office, his approval rating has dropped from 60 percent in January 2013 to 47.3 percent this April, while the JCP has grown from 2.1 percent support to 5.7 percent support. 

Obviously the Abe administration has seen a downward trend of its support. While the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remains dominant, its support rating has also decreased. The JCP approval rating stays in single digits, but it has maintained steady and drastic growth for three years.

This has resulted from the Abe administration's disregard for the public opinion. Abe's headstrong moves to ease the restrictions on exercising the right to collective self-defense, revise the pacifist constitution and visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine have cost him much support.

Meanwhile, his much-hyped Abenomics has brought little benefit to the general public, but instead huge profits to large enterprises, while cabinet members resigned due to a series of political scandals.

In this context, the public has adjusted their opinion and turned to supporting other parties including the JCP.

Apart from the JCP, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the Japan Innovation Party are also capable rivals to the LDP.

However, the DPJ performed poorly in its four-year governance before Abe reassumed power, which makes it unlikely that it will regain public trust in a short period.

The Innovation Party has been active in recent years, but the majority of the public is hardly likely to vote for it given the absurd remarks by its former leader Hashimoto Toru about the "comfort women" and the party's more conservative attitudes toward historical and constitutional issues.

In comparison, actually the JCP's propositions are more popular when it comes to historical, military and foreign policies. Specifically, the JCP opposes the revision of the pacifist constitution, lifting the ban on the right to collective self-defense, the visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and the restart of nuclear power plants.

It says "no" explicitly on these issues and hence gains increasing respect and support from the public.

Seven years ago, a novel The Crab Cannery Ship by JCP member and also author Takiji Kobayashi gained popularity among the young Japanese. Marxism was then re-learned and a large number of Japanese young people joined the JCP. Since then Japan has witnessed the disappointing rule by the DPJ and reckless Abe administration, which consequently enabled the JCP to garner public trust and support. It's probably time again to see the wind rise in the JCP's sails.

The author is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Sociology at Toyo University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn