Posts Tagged ‘政治’

Political drama.

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Posted 02 Jun 2010 — by Mashu
Category EN

Though I typically don’t have the time to cover late-breaking events as they happen here, I feel that being an avid follower of the political situation (and Japan’s news in general) I should comment at least briefly on this morning’s whopper.

As the always-superb Mr. Cucek at Shisaku has already done a comprehensive (and timely) job of covering things, I’ll only give the briefest of summaries. According to the papers I read (just the Nikkei and Asahi evening editions), Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio has declared his intention to step down. In order to essentially rid the party of the untrustworthy image it has developed quite effectively over the past 8 months, he has also asked Democratic Part of Japan Secretary-General Ozawa Ichiro to resign, and I believe that resignation is also now official.

Interestingly, the one additional person whose leave of office Hatoyama openly sought was that of Lower House member Kobayashi Chiyomi, who was embroiled in scandals surrounding illegal funding activities, in much the same way Ozawa was, though on an entirely different scale in terms of public perception I’m sure. This request is in my mind a bit bizarre, but he couldn’t have picked a better time to do it, I guess.

I think this turn of events could be wonderful for the DPJ. Since late 2009 as public opinion polls plummeted, Japan’s political horizon found itself without a party receiving a viable amount of support. There was no way a DPJ with Hatoyama was going to move anywhere but down in the coming Upper House election. In removing himself, and Ozawa, Hatoyama has essentially changed the entire face of the party when it comes to the average onlooker. Thus essentially, the DPJ is reborn as the (all things considered) fresh face, and while I don’t expect public opinion polls to rise soon, if the new leader (expected to be Kan Naoto) selection process and the following plethora of tasks are handled smoothly, I think the DPJ will be seen in a fairly neutral, if not even good light by the population at large. Compare that to the infinitely negative public opinion which lasted up until this morning.

In addition – the photos of Ozawa and Hatoyama in the papers today were just hilarious. In some the two of them look like they’re about to lock lips, in others Hatoyama’s head looks like Kermit the frog, and others Ozawa is jutting out his chin and looking downward… I guess that isn’t unusual though.

The biggest irritant in all of this for me was the dismissal of Fukushima Mizuho from her position as Minister of Consumer Affairs. She was a well-spoken, tough lady who was doing a fine job. I understand the need to maintain a level of order among the ruling party on its key issues (ie. the Futenma base-moving hullabaloo), but if Hatoyama was going to jump ship anyways, all I can say about her removal is a heartfelt もったいない.

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A clean break is a tricky thing.

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Posted 12 Feb 2010 — by Mashu
Category EN

This morning the Asahi Shimbun published a pretty good article summing up a lot of the political events of the last couple days, most important (or at least headline-grabbing) being that of Ishikawa Tomohiro’s secession from the Democratic Party of Japan, which he submitted yesterday (Feb. 11).

There are voices of criticism and support coming and going in and from both directions, as to whether this is the appropriate choice or not, and how to move forward. I’m not going to get all mixed up in that debate, however. What’s also drawing a lot of heat, however, is his choice to remain in his position in the House of Representatives. Ozawa Ichiro was not charged due to a lack of evidence directly connecting him to illegal money-handling. Ishikawa (though not alone) is going down for, what is essentially some fraudulent bookkeeping. Perhaps it is just me having read story after story about politicians doing dastardly things since, well, the beginning of time, however I don’t feel that of all people in this affair, Ozawa’s secretary, the one handling the bookkeeping, should have to go through the whole sturm and drag of this public process, leave the party, and on top of that drop out of his elected position. According to the article linked above, supporters from Ishikawa’s constituency of Obihiro (Hokkaido) voiced their wish for him to remain both in the party and in his elected position.

I can understand the sentiment! I really feel this whole campaign funding affair is far more complex than just the couple people in the spotlight, but also less heinous a crime than it is being made out to be. I can understand the voters’ sentiments, in not seeing this issue as a fatal blow worthy of forsaking their candidate of choice. Forcing him out of office just creates another hullabaloo and more costs for those who had nothing to do with any of this.

The DPJ is trying, it seems, to wrap this up cleanly. Ishikawa insists his party departure is entirely his decision, since in remaining there, criticism sent his way could always be linked to Ozawa, a burden he seems to not want to force upon the party. Understandable, but a recent quote from Ozawa himself sure doesn’t sound like he’s opposed to it!「（議員）バッジは外させないが、党籍は党内情勢を見て判断する」”He will not be forced to give up his badge (as a House of Reps member), but the matter of his party membership will have to be addressed internally before any judgments are made.”

Naturally, a clean break from this mess would be a good thing for the DPJ, whose support has been tumbling at a truly unreal rate recently. I am in no way convinced that it will wrap up so nicely. There are a lot of positive, forward-looking comments from other party members, which normally I think I would be critical of as merely attempts to avoid negative press, which they may likely be, but I can’t help but hope the party does start moving forward to actually, well, making some changes, instead of having to focus on dodging criticism over illegal bookkeeping left, right and center. I hope that is how things will move forward, but I can’t help but feel this whole affair will be dragging on for quite some time to come.

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