Will Japan’s election matter??

Image via Wikipedia

Sunday’s New York Times does an admirable job summarizing the dislocation and ennui in Japan on the eve of a national election next month that may — finally –force the doddering, incompetent ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power.

As my friend Martin Fackler, correctly points out, economic sluggishness, rising unemployment and a fall in national wealth makes it harder for the party that ruled Japan for more than five decades to simply “buy off” Japan’s discontented voters once again with pork barrel spending or expanded corporate tax breaks. The approval ratings for Prime Minister Taro Aso’s have never gotten much above 30 percent, and are cascading once again.

Such “dead end” politics have their limits, and Japan’s young people, who will no longer be the beneficiaries of the lifetime employment system of 30 years ago, see a fairly hopeless future without some form of political and economic revolution. This is a country that is rapidly getting older, less prosperous and less involved in global trends. No wonder the younger generation is by turn apathetic and angry.

Economy Spells Trouble for Leading Party in Japan -

Unfortunately, neither Fackler nor other commentators have pointed out that victory by the leading opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will hardly constitute a major political revolution.  The leadership of the DPJ, including party leader Yukio Hatoyama, and “shadow shogun” Ichiro Ozawa are all LDP retreads. They have offered no bold new ideas, haven’t enunicated any clear policy changes and have so far failed to clearly call out the major social and economic challenges the country clearly faces.

Therefore, this election may represent yet another Kabuki dance of factional infighting rather than the sort of revolutionary moment Japan realy needs and that the Japanese people seem hungry for.

Stay tuned. The election isn’t scheduled until August 30.