I just watched this and thought it was worth sharing here. I know little about Japanese politics, just growing impressions formed from the cultural studies that go hand in hand with language study. My thought is to throw up this thread to give people a chance to share their thoughts, and hopefully learn a little bit more about it all. I know there are several of you living in Japan who may have some valuable insight on the subject (as well as others not in Japan).

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/1/jap...e_party_pm

I thought this excerpt taken from the end of the interview was interesting -

"..... a notion that you can have Japan essentially subordinate, a puppet of American interest, controlled by us on all fronts, I think, is a recipe for disaster down the road. And we’ve been seeing, until this election, a kind of nasty, right-wing, history-denying conservatism and sort of nationalism in Japan that I felt was sort of a reaction to this control. So this vote is about the healthiest thing that one could hope for, if you were hoping for sort of a healthy balanced nationalism and a more constructive and healthy US-Japan relationship. "

Definitely watch the interview to get more of the context for that, but I think it is a very interesting commentary.

It looks like change is on the way in Japan.

I have been watching this on FNN the last few days. I am happy Japan is finally standing up to the US but I wish they would have done it while Bush was still in office.
Isn't it interesting the name Japan's most conservative political party is called the Liberal Democratic Party自民党?

+1

自民党....Yeah a bit arbitrary...or down right deceptive.

I hope this is a sign of more progressive attitudes. From what I've read it was a landslide.

I was surprised to hear from a person in Japan that the Japanese people "love" Bush (this was from an American, about a year ago), when most of the rest of the world had a bit different view (to put it mildly). He said that people there also generally thought the republican party "cared more" about the Japanese people (which I found interesting/puzzling). It made me wonder about the correlation between a huge readership of newspapers (can't remember the stat I heard about that but I remember it being incredibly high), Japanese penchant for unquestioned conformity and authority, corporate control of Japanese media, and so on (sorry to generalize, these are just impressions, not statements, and I of all people try not to over stereotype).

I was also told by a J pen pal that the youth in Japan "love" Obama (this was around the election).

I say all this in the sense of loosely formed ideas, and as being passed information from only a few individuals (but valuable nonetheless). I really have a very limited vantage about all this, but with an open and discerning mind, try my best to continue to see more of the picture, and as such am hoping to hear from more peoples perspectives, here in the forum.

TaylorSan Wrote:I was also told by a J pen pal that the youth in Japan "love" Obama (this was around the election).

The youth of Japan are the most apathetic of all human beings on this planet thus their opinion is worth nothing xD

I have mixed feelings about last elections in Japan. DPJ came to power as a result of the negative reaction of society to market reform attempt made by Koizumi. This attempt stalled halfway, so none of the initial goals were reached. Instead, anti-market and ant-Koizumi sentiment grew stronger.
In the sense of economic policy DPJ is even more conservative (cautious) than LDP.
From the political point of view, I guess there are more pluses. The relations with China will most certainly improve. Also politicians will become more attentive to public opinion, I guess.
So, it`s hard to decide. The political change is good, but the economic strategy of DPJ leaves more questions, than answers.

About the election: "Small earthquake; no tsunami".

Seriously, this was mostly a rebuke of the LDP rather than an embrace of the DJP -- an embrace which would be difficult in any case because the DJP itself isn't sure what it stands for, much less most of the people who voted for it. Mostly they know it's not the LDP, and that was plenty good enough, finally. On top of that, more than a smattering of DJP winners are LDP defectors from about 10 years ago. If you expect some political revolution here, you are going to be extremely disappointed.

As in most democratic countries, when people start to feel truly insecure economically, they turn out in droves to vote, and the incumbent party is going to take a pasting. The LDP has managed to avoid this until now for a few reasons:

1) an extremely far left opposition that the public could not imagine turning control of the country over to -- so far left until recently that one wondered if they even *wanted* to win an election, because it certainly was never going to happen given the platforms they were running on

2) faith that the LDP, which became virtually synonymous with post-war economic boom times, could bring back the good old days once more -- they could not, but it took awhile for that to sink in after so many good decades

3) the oddity called Koizumi, who actually ran more *anti*-LDP in his campaign than anything, and in doing so, oddly enough, kept the zombie alive for four more years

It's certainly healthy that the country finally became at least a two-party arena. Enough was enough. Now the onus is really on the DJP however, and they are about as united as post-Tito Yugoslavia.

I wouldn't look for much of a break with the US. A lot gets said during campaigns that is quietly forgotten about during governance. Sometimes that's a good thing; sometimes not. The DJP, to be very stark about it, just became captain of a ship that looks suspiciously like the Titanic. You have to wish them luck, because they are surely going to need it.

Edit: DPJ, not DJP. Cixelsyd, maybe.

LazyNomad Wrote:I have mixed feelings about last elections in Japan. DPJ came to power as a result of the negative reaction of society to market reform attempt made by Koizumi. This attempt stalled halfway, so none of the initial goals were reached. Instead, anti-market and ant-Koizumi sentiment grew stronger.
In the sense of economic policy DPJ is even more conservative (cautious) than LDP.
From the political point of view, I guess there are more pluses. The relations with China will most certainly improve. Also politicians will become more attentive to public opinion, I guess.
So, it`s hard to decide. The political change is good, but the economic strategy of DPJ leaves more questions, than answers.

Very good commentary, I believe. I'm not sure the Koizumi reforms even got to the halfway point. And centrally planned systems have an abysmal record at creating wealth. The exception of course: Japan, back when it could manufacture cheap and sell almost without restriction to mix of rich and very rich markets. Them days are long gone.

I thought this video was interesting:

Koizumi's son (who won) apparently ignoring his rival?

Good posts folks. I think some similar things are/have happened in the US as well. And there can't be a return to the "boom" days of yesteryears. I don't think it's realistic or even possible. Humanity is at a point where innovating new/better systems is a dire need on all fronts. Economically I think the world is in a crisis resulting from unabated, unsustainable capitalistic growth, and a value system of unchecked greed. And I don't know how you fix it......

I do get the impression that some of the new governments are at least a bit more oriented to the social needs of it's people, and I think this mentality is a huge positive. A shift in consciousness is capable of "saving" humanity/the planet, which will reflect in the way we form economies. And Japan is capable of majorly shifting gears for it's own survival, as seen in the past.

And I am saddened to continually hear about the apathetic youth in Japan. Was the "boom" in Japan even a good thing for the people, families ect.? What the f**k has happened to this beautiful planet.......so much wonderful potential.....