Changing face of Japanese politics

September 1, 1993
Issue 

By Catherine Brown

TOKYO — In the 12 months preceding the July 18 election, public confidence in Japan's ruling political elite was shaken by revelations of high-level political corruption. "Money politics", as the corruption scandals have become known, sparked an early election on July 18 after the Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated Japanese political life since the 1950s, lost a vote of confidence in the Diet (parliament).

Expectations were that the LDP would be chastened, not defeated at the polls. In the weeks leading up to the election 48 LDP parliamentarians left the party, thereby disguising the extent of its losses — the LDP's representation in the 511-member lower house was reduced by 52 to 223.

The wearing of white gloves by Japan's politicians, a symbol of purity and clean hands, was notably absent in these elections; not so the bevy of attractive young women accompanying the tainted candidates on the campaign trail, whose occupation was to wave at passers-by in the a vain hope of inspiring a confidence the public no longer has in its politicians.

The LDP and the mass media excuse the continuous corruption as resulting from the high cost of running as an electoral candidate; thus the image of buying and selling of votes, political loyalties and policies. Despite the scandal of "money politics" corruption, most successful candidates exceeded the legal spending limit of ¥30 million in the July 18 election, some spending up to ¥100 million.

Proposed changes to the electoral system, discussed at length in the election campaign, including one-member constituencies and a form of proportional representation, are supposed to ensure a clean-up of Japanese politics. However, many electors were not convinced, with only 67% voting. Only days before polling day a staggering 43% of people were still unsure as to which party to vote for. The turnout was lowest in the cities, with less than 60% voting in Tokyo.

The mass media dismissed the low participation as a result of bad weather and the screening of a sumo wrestling final on television. But non- voters, speaking to foreign journalists, told of their sense of despair and their belief that the election itself would not change the dirty politics.

"The most significant development in these elections is the split in the mainstream parties from the LDP", argues Kenji Kunitomi, of the Revolutionary Communist League. "This is only a transitional stage as the aim is for the Japanese political system to move to a two-party system."

In the days following July 18 a coalition government including the LDP was being predicted by the Japanese press. The Japan Times, for example, interpreted the election result as a vote to restrain "the of power". Confounding this view, a coalition of eight parties from the Social Democratic Party to the conservative Japan Renewal Party formed a new government on July 29. The only agreement between them being the need for political reform.

The SDPJ itself did not do well in the election, losing half of its seats; this, said the political establishment, was a rejection of socialism. But such a view could not account for the fact that one of the main beneficiary of the SDPJ's electoral decline was the 400,000- member Japanese Communist Party, largely as result of the SDPJ's abandonment, for the first time, of its traditional opposition to Japanese militarism. At the same time Rengo, the conservative Federation of Japanese Trade Unions, shifted its support from the SDPJ to the Japan New Party, a right-wing, anti-corruption party.

"The SDPJ is now making a big right turn", explained Kunitomi. "The pressure on the SDPJ is to abandon it's social-democratic orientation not only on foreign and military policy, but on its social welfare positions too. The SDPJ announced during the election campaign if it participated in a coalition government, it would continue the LDP's policies thereby abandoning its defence of Article 9." Article 9 of the constitution specifically states the Japanese military will not operate abroad. The SDPJ had long opposed the euphemistically named Japanese Special Defence Force. The new government's endorsement of the military role for JSDF has thrown the Social Democratic Party into crisis.

"The policy of the new government will not be decided by the SDPJ even though it is the largest party in the coalition", Eto Masanobu, a leader of the militant trade-union group Rodo-Joho told Green Left Weekly "The SDPJ will be following the conservative parties, for the trade union movement the new government will not be positive."

Both Kunitomi and Masanobu see the crisis of SDPJ as possibly leading to its left-wing splitting away and perhaps even the party's dissolution into a larger conservative party, a step in the transition to a US-style two-party system.

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