Change Comes to Japan

Campus Report ^ | September 24, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

[bs9021]

Change Comes to Japan

by: Brittany Fortier, September 24, 2009

Change has come to Japan, according to a panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on September 2, 2009. On August 30, 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was elected to an overwhelming margin, giving them 308 out of 480 seats in the Japanese House of Representatives. The DPJ and its allies, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the People’s New Party (PNP) have a combined total of 318 out of 480 seats, giving them a solid two-thirds majority in the House.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) now has a mere 119 seats. Nick Szechenyi of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) argued at AEI that the results were “clearly a referendum” against the more conservative LDP, which ran alongside the centre-right Komeito Party. The Komeito Party, backed by the Soka Gakkai religious group, has 21 seats, giving Japan’s conservative coalition a total of only 140 seats.

The LDP dominated Japanese politics for almost 54 years. This historic upset has given the DPJ a mandate for setting a new political agenda in Japan.

Len Schoppa, a professor at the University of Virginia, said that winning a majority of seats does not mean that the DPJ can just “do whatever it wants.” Instead, the DPJ will be “depending on” the SDP to have a majority in the Upper House because the Japanese legislature system is bicameral.

“The LDP has been hampered by a lack of a majority in the Upper House for the last two years, and the DPJ is also potentially vulnerable. They [the DPJ] don’t have a majority by themselves in the Upper House. They have just 117 seats when you need about 121 to have a majority,” he said...

[ActrFshr]

Silly article.

Consensus has been Japanese want to punish the LDP more than they came to trust the DPJ. Culturally, Japanese don’t see “change” as westerners/Americans do.

It irks me to see westerners incorporate their values into their stories about Japan, as though Japanese think the same as westerners do. Earth to Brittany Fortier, they do not (and that’s a good thing in many ways).

This quote is rich:
Schoppa argued that the DPJ took a page from former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s “playbook” and advocated for “change.” This all-important concept of “change” was “excit[ing]” to the Japanese people, who were disillusioned by Koizumi’s capitalist reforms and the “inequality” that was perceived to be the main cause of economic recession.

Sorry but actually the LDP got weak-kneed on many if not most of Koizumi’s proposals including a balanced budget and several privatizations. It was Koizumi who became disillusioned by the LACK of capitalism in his own party, scuttling capitalistic reforms.

Even when Koizumi rose to the top he was seen as eccentric. As 2001 turned to 2005 and 2006 being eccentric lost charm within the LDP. Consequently, the LDP lost its charm with the Japanese people.

[Niuhuru]

“irks me to see westerners incorporate their values into their stories about Japan, as though Japanese think the same as westerners do.”

Which is why we get it wrong time and time again when it comes to dealing with politicians in the East.