Election special

Well another week has passed in Japan and the big news here has been the election held on Sunday September the 11th. Several months ago Prime Minister Koizumi of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) called the election after parliament twice failed to pass his controversial Postal Privatization Bill. The function of the Japan Post Office is currently threefold: Postal, banking and insurance. The LDP had chosen to privatize this huge state owned organization as its first step in streamlining the country’s economic infrastructure and encouraging commercial growth. Koizumi announced the election with a message to voters that Privatization of the Post Office was the only matter they were voting on. The downplaying of other issues was widely touted by his opponents as a big mistake.

Opinions around the country, as in parliament have been divided. But everyone agreed this election was very important for the future of Japan. The Japanese are aware they have huge international debts which slow growth, and it seems a strong interest in Japan’s economy amongst ordinary people is common. Many are concerned about the plight of the Postal workers who number around 260,000 nationwide. It seems obvious a large percentage will lose their jobs. On the other hand many people believe Japan must make bold moves to strengthen its economy and ensure it keeps moving in the right direction. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) while agreeing in principal with economic reform, has focused its campaign on other issues. These include the burden of an aging population on social security plans and the current government’s plan to change the military from a peaceful ‘self defense force’, to an army which will fight wars overseas for ‘reasons of international security’. The DPJ made some strong arguments and it seemed to me perhaps Koizumi had overplayed his hand.

However, about a week ago the Prime Minister gave a speech at my local train station – Kokura, and amazingly about fourteen thousand people turned up to listen. This is indicative of the charisma of the man, he comes across very positively and appears quite genuine. On one famous occasion this year he met actor Richard Gere who was in the country promoting “Shall We Dance”. Koizumi’s daughter made a comment about how similar the two grey haired men looked and in a delightful few minutes of television pair proceeded to dance ballroom style for the cameras. I can’t imagine many other political leaders having the poise to do that. And I’m sure Helen Clark and Don Brash would have two left feet anyway!

The Prime Minister’s visit to Kitakyushu showed the high level of public support he has, and on the 11th he was re-elected in a landslide result.

Its been an interesting few months observing another country’s political process but the thing I will most remember is the feverish politicking of the local candidates. As well as the ordinary public appearances and billboards the politicians and their staff would actually travel the streets in vans each morning and give public addresses. This doesn’t sound so bad except they would park outside apartment buildings and holler election promises in Japanese with a loudspeaker at about 8am. In a country with such chronically sleep deprived people to me this is just criminal. I can’t imagine people putting up with it in a ‘Western country’! I think today has been the first day in months I haven’t been woken up to it and I’m so glad that the election is over and we can all get on with our lives in peace.