Voters hand DPJ landslide win

The Japan Times ^ | Monday, August 31, 2009 | Kyodo news service

[altair]

The DPJ started as an offshoot of the LDP. The LDP has gotten increasingly liberal (in US terms) in recent years. I would imagine this is a Good Thing.

But hey, this is regime change done The Right Way - through the ballot box.

[altair]

Ping. I didn’t see any Japanese sourced article for this, so I posted one.

[library user]

This is basically the conservative party in Japan, isn’t it?

[VRWC For Truth]

a DPJ-led government will "cut waste created in bureaucrat-reliant politics and reorganize the budget in such a way as to spend money on what's really important

Message to the DC beltway crowd: CUT SPENDING or you are TOAST in 2010!

[justlurking]

This is basically the conservative party in Japan, isn’t it?

According to an article I read, the DPJ is more liberal than the LDP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090830/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_politics

"The [DPJ] have embraced a more populist platform, promising handouts for families with children and farmers, a higher minimum wage, and to rebuild the economy."

"The party is also proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts."

Sounds like more "hope and change" to me. I'll bet it doesn't work any better for them.

[library user]

Unfortunately, the guy who will be PM of Japan (Yukio Hatoyama) next month has been a member - in the past (early 90s) - of the Liberal Democrat Party in that country.

So who really knows how much different the Japanese government will be.

[miliantnutcase]

Japan really doesn’t have a conservative party, but this is the next closest thing.

[library user]

Aw, sh*t. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case. You think the Japanese would look at how poorly Obama is doing here and reject socialism.

[Nathan Zachary]

I don’t think going from What is seen as Centrist liberal to the left with a coalition with the far left is a good thing, especially with Japans current economy.
Then again, spending huge amounts of money trying to implement stupid social programs like monthly child allowance checks might laeave a real bad taste in taxpayers mouths so that this will be the first and last time this party ever wins a large number of seats again.

[Dan Nunn]

I often wonder how much influence and attention is paid to the United States from countries like Japan with upcoming elections. I wouldn’t necessarily look at the successes of Angela Merkel of Germany and vote for our own candidate for president based on her record.

But do other countries pay attention at all to US politics? Even at the level of the masses?

[justlurking]

Japan really doesn’t have a conservative party, but this is the next closest thing.

The LDP is the "conservative" party in Japan, at least according to this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090830/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_politics

"The loss by the Liberal Democrats — traditionally a pro-business, conservative party — would open the way for the Democratic Party..."

"The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament...."

[SeekAndFind]

The LDP has ruled Japan for almost all of the past 50 years ( except for a very brief almost ignorable interlude ).

This is like 1994 in the USA.

Could this be a portent of the elections next year in this country ? ( hoping against hope ... ).

[Natural Law]

The MSM is spinning this. They refer to the “losing conservative party”, but have to tip-toe around sentence and paragraph structure to avoid calling it the “conservative Liberal Democrat” party.

[Nervous Tick]

Sounds like an Obama “hope and change” redux to me. Japan mving left.

[SeekAndFind]

Japan Stocks, Bond Yields May Rise After DPJ Election Victory

SEE HERE :

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aa7Sf52dOAg4

[Hawthorn]

But what will be the significance for the USA?

I dare say that’s THE big question for 99.99% of the folks here on FR, and the article doesn’t even touch the matter.

[Hawthorn]

>> The MSM is spinning this <<

Not really. Anybody with the slightest knowledge of Japanese politics will tell you that the LDP is in fact the conservative party of Japan.

[Nathan Zachary]

I don’t think so. Don’t forget that in other countries, especially eastern pacific rim countries, they are still being fed by the media that Obama is some sort of Messiah. This may influence the popularity of their own left wing parties who all seemed to have jumped on the “hopey changeo” platform in hopes of duplicating Obama’s election win.

[rockinqsranch]

I do believe this paragraph of the article sums it up sufficiently:

“Flush with victory, DPJ executives started full-fledged preparations for launching a new administration in the evening, party sources said, adding that talks were also planned with its two allies — the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) — on forming a coalition government.”

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Well, it’s very confusing! But,,, if the more conservative party lost, and the more left-wing party won, obama won’t have any reason to insult them! I’d been thinkin’ that Japan would be the next ally of ours that Lil Beri Beri would insult!