Japanese Politics 101: The Opposition
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Unlike Britain’s parliament, Opposition parties in Japan infrequently hold enough power to effectively sway the Government's agenda. In 2016, the LDP's primary source of resistance, the Democratic Party of Japan, fractured into sub-parties, leaving unimpeded the path for the Abe Cabinet. Recent years have amplified these schisms, with new rules favoring smaller political parties; it is now harder for a single opposition party to coalesce their throw-weight. Join Micheal and host Timothy as they dissect Japan's Opposition parties and their role in Japan’s government.
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labour unions don't have bad reputation across the world, definitely not in Europe
They have a pretty bad reputation here in North America.
@@MrZombieCosmic well yeah but that's because America is a garbage country controlled by the rich and America controls the area
I’m rewatching this video a few years later and that line jumped out at me! What the hell is he talking about? Unions are generally popular with anyone who isn’t successfully propagandized to by union smashers.
One thing I find frustrating about Japanese politics is the quality level of the average Diet member. Far too many of them on both sides see the Diet seat as a family business. Many of these guys could never make it in business or finance. Some of the ex bureaucrats who move into politics have more brains than on average but some of them carry a lot of baggage with them. Regardless of your policy orientation there does not seem to be a sense of public service that drives many or most of these people to seek a Diet seat but looking for a job or they have been groomed for it since birth. And this comment applies to both the LDP and the Opposition. The Upper House is even worse than the Lower House.
As far as winning elections, as was correctly stated, the Opposition could defeat the LDP if they managed to get together and encouraged a relatively small increase in total turnout. Michael and others talk about the electoral structure favors the LDP and that is true in part but this is actually quite immaterial if the Opposition could find a rallying issue. The old saw plays in Japan as well as most places. 1/3 favor the ruling party, 1/3 the opposition and 1/3 is undecided, uncommitted or unconcerned. In Japan that 1/3 is split into meaningless splinter groups most of which do not even register in the typical party favorability polls. But the real reason that the average Japanese voter continues to elect the LDP is not just pragmatism versus idealism but the fact that the average Japanese expects the government to be able to actually lead the government. The real advantage that the LDP has is the deep bench of possible leaders it has to draw from AND more importantly the fact they can take their time to train them slowly over years of tests - in party roles, in vice minister roles, in smaller cabinet minister roles before they get to the bigger very visible top party leaders and ministers of finance, foreign and METI. The Opposition do not have that grooming opportunity and cannot seem to attract people who have established leadership and star power. Each time the Opposition has gained power they lost it because of a major failing in the actual governing leadership. Average Japanese have a healthy distrust that there are enough true leaders in CDP, NDP, JCP to be able to actually govern. and so we keep going in circles. And the Opposition remain on their merry-go-round. Just imagine if the DPJ or CDP had a budding star like Koizumi Jr. they would throw him immediately into a position he was not really ready for and he would fail and be lost to the country. The LDP can continue to groom Koizumi Jr. for another 7-8 years before he gets a run at the PM chair.
I find that really interesting, Edo. Any insight into why the Japanese do not typically feel called to Public Service, despite seeing it as an honorable job? Could one tie it to the incredible standards the Japanese hold their politicians to, as Timothy and Michael discussed in their Scandal episode?
Politics and politicians are generally held in low esteem. The honorific "sensei" is applied when speaking to a politician but in this case it feels almost forced - nothing like the feelings of genuine respect one feels when speaking of your tea ceremony teacher, Aikido "sensei" or a university professor. As a result, with some exceptions of course, the political profession does not attract Japan's best and brightest. The various election funding and reporting rules and the like have been set usually in response to prior scandals and are more than a little arcane. A couple of years ago a female LDP Cabinet minister had to resign because her staff gave away 50 yen paper fans with her name on it to her supporters - this was deemed a violation of election laws. The fan was fine but her name on it was illegal. Go figure! Political amateurs and people who have poor support staff end up getting caught by mistakes of their staff members like in the fan case.
Why such low esteem? Good question. I am not sure politicians have ever been held in very high esteem but if they were it would have been in the window between the Meiji Restoration and Taisho era when Japan was rapidly modernizing. That is when the "sensei" term started. But certainly not since WWII. This is speculation on my part, perhaps Michael will know from some study he has made or read, but this may reflect the Japanese collective memories of how the politicians of the time utterly failed to stop the military in the 20 years prior to the war and in any number of cases were complicit in the actions that led to Japan's near destruction as a nation state. Japanese have very long memories.
The question of public service and why there seems to be so little of it among Japanese is one I have been thinking about. While perhaps unconnected, there is also very little genuine patriotism ever exhibited as well. Putting the far right nationalist fringe to the side which is not real patriotism but more frequently racism or nationalism. Both public service and patriotism were clearly evident in the period leading up to the collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu and through the Meiji era. Perhaps they were both lost as well because of the war. The feelings that the government utterly failed Japanese and therefore you have to focus on yourself seems to have taken hold after this. Next time there is a national holiday count the number of Japanese flags you see put out in your residential neighborhood. It goes so far that people do not display the flag out of shyness (for sticking out), embarrassment or perhaps concern someone will assume they are a nationalist. Hard to image this in ANY country in Europe or North America or Asia, except here.
I think there has been a degradation in the quality of politicians all over the world. Right now when we need some true statesmen/women to tackle the issues we all face, what we seem to get is greedy shortsighted timeservers.
Yes that is a part of it. You read the histories of the people who stepped forward at the end of Tokugawa or the beginning of Meiji. NHK has their usual historical dramas and you likely know but this time it is about the times of Saigo. It seems the war period utterly destroyed in Japanese that sense of public service, to work for the greater good. How do we go about restoring that in the young people in Japan? I have toyed with the idea that we should implement a 1 year mandatory period of service after college or completion of secondary education with some hardship exceptions of course. Of course it must be male and female. The service could be in Japan for example working with accredited NPOs trying to restore Kumamoto, Fukushima after those natural disasters, other NPOs working with children, homeless, etc or in Japans well respect but little known overseas volunteer group. In todays world Abe could never do that nor any LDP politician as the far left folks would be howling about the return of military service. A number of countries have that concept. I wonder if that would help restore the idea that every Japanese has some duty to give something back to their country?
The only path to a viable opposition, with solid leaders ready to take power, might be a split in the LDP. While they have plenty of incentives to stay in the group, if distrust of Abe rises beyond a certain point some might decide to leave. That's where many of the original DPJ people came from after all.
Could you comment on recent attempts by the opposition splinter parties to rejoin to form a larger group? I find it fascinating the number of Westerners who HAVE figured out the systems here, but do not have a platform.
These videos are extraordinary. THANKS Y"ALL , Keep up the good work!
Imagine only having 2 parties to choose from! (Guess which country I'm referring to).
The number of parties is the most useless thing to be proud off. Look my country's legislature has 69,420 parties, congratulations to my country!!!
12:21 good explanation as to partly why the LDP is so successful. A plurality of Japanese just don't feel strongly enough about the Opposition platforms.
Mr. Cucek is AWESOME
This is great, thank you guys
and i thought british politics was confusing
I got blocked by Michael on Twitter for no reason.
You got blocked? I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to achieve the same result but am still on the receiving end.... You’re such a bragger
:DDD
U guys try to appear neutral but you just can't hide your dislike of the LDP can you
oldman986 they only present facts, if facts happen to be against the LDP, then its not their fault
But my ネトウヨ friends say that LDP is at no fault and it's all CDP to blame
Of course they say that. The group that has all the levers of power can never be wrong or make mistakes - it's only the people who started a political party _last fall_ who don't agree with the power group that are causing all the problems and trying to sell Japan out to the Chinese or South Korea or both (*eye roll*)
Read up on Japan's 20th century history and what kind of people started the LDP. There's not much to like. I think Tokyo On Fire are quite soft on them to be honest.
“Thank you for your feedback! In response, I’d say your observation is fair, but would add that I would not say we hold any firm negative slant against the LDP, but it is our observation that all parties have positive as well as negative aspects that we feel are fair-game to comment upon. We attempt to be balanced, fair, judicious.... but we call it as we see it. And indeed, sometimes we hold divergent views that I think our audience deserves to hear. That being said, I would also add that we have vested interests in preserving our network and many personal relationships within Japanese government, so obviously we walk a fine line sometimes: Tokyo on Fire has wide viewership. For example, you know that I used to work for (and still frequently talk productively with) the former Foreign Minister and others who are LDP members. It is sometimes delicate to make and present our analysis and, of course, viewers can read between the lines: it makes the show interesting and compelling, we hope. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.” .... comment by Timothy
They should try to follow the China model
yeah great idea. every country should copy hell
@@MrSpasticdancer "hell" just became the largest economy in the world soooooo (and realistically the actual hell is the United States where nowhere can you rent a place for $1000 but in the capital of China you can. You don't have to like they're political system but being hyperbolic helps no one.)