The Defeat of Japan’s LDP
One of Maria’s former students, now in Tokyo, took this picture in Shinjuku. It depicts Taro Aso, who in the wake of the LDP’s defeat, is now the outgoing Prime Minister of Japan.
The Economist’s articles about the election are good – see this week’s Leader article and their more detailed Briefing article. Maria’s the expert on Japanese politics, not me, but she pointed out to me an aspect of the story that’s been missing from the Western press. Koizumi won a big victory for the LDP in 2005, partly because of his promise to privatize the postal saving system (a particular area of interest for Maria). The Western press depicted the 2005 election as a call for “reform” from the Japanese people, but it also represented a political maneuver by Koizumi to undermine the old guard of his own party, which opposed him on many issues and relied upon the patronage politics of the postal savings system. So while the DPJ’s landslide victory last week was certainly a resounding call for change, it’s also partly the result of the intra-party fight Koizumi started in the LDP several years earlier, which had the effect of weakening the party overall.
The Katakana word on the Economist’s cover is “Dokkaan” which is an onomatopoeia word for “explosion.”
Something I haven’t found any news on yet is how the Happiness Realization Party fared in the election. It’s the political arm of the “Happy Science” cult. The closest analogy to the US would be if there was a political party based on Scientology. They’re known for their wealthy members, they require large sums of money or expensive gifts from their followers to reach successive stages of enlightenment, and their leader claims “…he is the incarnation of El Cantare, a 9th degree spirit who was originally sent to the Earth from Venus 600 million years ago.” They claim to have 10 million followers, and they managed to field candidates in all of Japan’s 300 single-seat electoral districts.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:34 am
The Happiness Party did amazingly poorly in the election. It was a real miscalculation by Okawa. They didn’t win a single seat and in most seats they failed to get more than 15 of the votes. It will be interesting to see how he explains his loss to devoted followers i his next book!
September 8th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the update – so much for their claim of 10 million followers!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:36 am
The picture of former PM Aso’s poster with “GONE” below it is great. My coauthor and I are interested in possibly using the image on the cover of a forthcoming book. Is there any way you can give me the email address of the photographer so that I can contact and ask for permision?