Akira Kasai

is a Japanese politician and a former member of the House of Representatives for the Japanese Communist Party. Kasai, a former policy chief of the JCP, is critical of the United States' intervention in the Syrian Civil War in absence of resolutions by the UN Security Council, saying that the actions are aggravating the civil war. He is supportive of normalizing Japan's relationship with North Korea, claiming that the issues with North Korea can only be solved by developing a dialogue and trust. He similarly thinks that Japan should push the United States to hold talks with North Korea to avert a war caused by accident or misunderstanding. Kasai is against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.