Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
from Global News Journal:
Japan PM under fire — from his wife
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces plenty of grilling from the opposition camp but his toughest critic might be the one he calls "the opposition party within his own household" -- his wife.
"Since I know him very well, I wonder -- is it okay that this person is prime minister?" Nobuko Kan, Naoto's wife of 40 years, writes in her new book titled "What on earth will change in Japan now you are prime minister?"
The 64-year-old Nobuko -- who calls herself "Japan's most nagging voter" -- also reveals in the book that her husband is a terrible cook and has given up on studying English, and she pooh-poohs his fashion sense, describing how he once got caught walking around in public with a price tag sticking out of his sleeve.
Ouch.
"I am too scared to read it," the prime minister, a 63-year-old former grassroots activist, admitted to reporters when asked about his wife's book about their life together.
The book may not be the best way to cheer up her husband, whose support rate has been sliding since his ruling Democratic Party got clobbered in this month's upper house election. Kan faces a tough balancing act trying to rein in Japan's huge debt while getting the wobbly economy back on track.
from Global News Journal:
Japan voters seek change, may get chaos
Five years ago, Japanese voters seeking change from stale politics and a stagnant economy backed maverick leader Junichiro Koizumi's calls for reform, handing his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a huge win in an election for parliament's powerful lower house.
Two years, several scandals and one incompetent prime minister later, they dealt the same LDP a stinging setback in a 2007 upper house election, creating a "Twisted Parliament" where the upper chamber could stall bills and delay policies.
The gridlock toppled the LDP's Shinzo Abe and his successor, each after about a year in office, and finally last summer the same electorate -- still longing for something new and better -- swept the novice Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to power, ending more than half a century of almost non-stop LDP rule and ejecting Taro Aso from the PM's seat. The DPJ, voters hoped, would make good on promises to change how Japan was governed, ending bureaucratic control of policies, and somehow ensuring that Japan emerged from two decades of the doldrums.
Now, after less than a year of chaotic policymaking, indecisive leadership and more scandals under DPJ premier Yukio Hatoyama, followed by sudden talk of a sales tax hike from former grassroots activist Naoto Kan, who took over when Hatoyama suddenly quit, frustrated voters did it again.
On Sunday, they delivered a harsh rebuke to the DPJ and a tiny ally, depriving them of an upper house majority and setting the stage for another bout of deadlock as Japan struggles to engineer growth in a fast-ageing society and curb a gigantic public debt.
"Voters were not trying to create political confusion, but that is the result," said independent political analyst Hirotaka Futatsuki, adding that calls for a snap lower house election that might not solve anything would grow. No lower house poll need be held until 2013.
Scenarios abound for possible ways out of the political bind.
from Global News Journal:
Japan’s not-so-hot election
Candidates on the campaign trail in Japan are sweating through the summer heat but voters have been cool towards this Sunday's upper house election.
Sure, the government won't change because the ruling Democratic Party will still control the more powerful lower house.
But the election matters because failure for the Democrats to win a majority would split parliament and stall policymaking, blocking Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge to cut Tokyo's huge public debt, create jobs and fix the creaking social security system.
So why aren't voters fired up? For one, the campaign has been pretty dull.
Rules require media to give equal coverage to all the political parties -- not great for viewership when there are more than 10 of them. TV debates have had no fewer than seven party leaders arguing over issues ranging from the economy to diplomacy.
The debates are squeezed into shows lasting an hour or less, and include brief intervals showing pre-recorded comments from other party heads. Even Yasuo Tanaka, leader of New Party Nippon with just one seat in parliament, gets air time.
