Visitors to the Love Japan site will be able to make individual donations to the political fund management organizations of Diet members or election candidates affiliated with political parties. They also can view brief biographies of incumbent lawmakers and other politicians.
The retailer plans to launch the site around July 27.
"We hope to inspire eligible voters to participate in politics," a Rakuten official said.
People who visit a page displaying the biography of a lawmaker can click on a "kenkin button" (donation button), and give between 1,000 and 1.5 million on each occasion they wish to donate.
At first, only credit cards issued by a Rakuten subsidiary will be accepted on the site to make donations, the company said.
Politicians who wish to receive donations via the site will have to apply to Rakuten to sign up to the service.
Rakuten will collect from the fund management bodies 105 for each donation in addition to 5.25 percent of the value of each donation. It will split this with the credit card company. Donors will not have to pay any handling fees.
While online individual political donations by credit card are common in the United States, it is extremely rare for Japanese politicians to receive donations in this way. To ensure that no political party is favored, Rakuten plans to invite applications to use the service from Diet lawmakers and candidates from all the major parties.
To see more of The Yomiuri Shimbun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.yomiuri.co.jp and www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm Copyright (c) 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:
Market Updates |
Stock Alerts |
All Trading News |
Stock Index