Asia Times: Reformer shakes up Japan's status quo


	June 21, 2000	atimes.com

Japan

Reformer shakes up Japan's status quo
By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO - Desperate for an election to change the stifling system of Japanese politics, Zensaku Sakurai, 65, started a movement in April hoping to shake a complacent electorate into voting intelligently in the June 25 Parliamentary polls.

''I felt the urgency for much-needed change in Japan,'' says Sakurai. ''If Japan goes on like this, we will all fall into a bottomless pit and never climb out.''

Sakurai has taken his cue from the reform movement in South Korea, which contributed to the defeat of a significant number of candidates in that nation's April parliamentary election. His group calls on people to cast a minus vote for ''unwanted'' politicians based on issues such as corruption and tax evasion, as well as their positions on peace, human rights, and social welfare.

Sakurai points out that voters are disgusted with the way Japanese prime ministers are chosen. ''The current system that supports a leader who belongs to the most powerful faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] is simply ridiculous in this modern day and age,'' he argues.

The champion of reform is no stranger to crusades. Twenty years ago he mobilized grassroots opposition to one of Japan's most powerful politicians, Kakuei Tanaka. The now deceased ex-prime minister was forced to step down three years after being indicted for bribery. ''I was kind of looked upon as a bit of a crackpot then,'' Sakurai recalls, ''because there I was rambling about the need for change while everybody else kind of bowed to tradition.''

Today, however, the picture is different. With polls indicating that 40 percent of Japanese voters are still undecided on the eve of an important election, Sakuari's campaign has expanded rapidly and attracted the attention of the Japanese press.

Some of the movement's 400 members have started their own campaigns in other parts of Japan. A rally at a large park in Tokyo last month was widely publicized and received a decent turnout. People queued to take pamphlets that identified politicians the movement deemed corrupt and incompetent.

In a country where voter turnout is typically below 50 percent, political analyst Yukio Suzuki, professor of economics at Reitaku University, says that Sakurai's campaign illustrates the growing frustration in Japan against traditional politicians. ''The low voter turnout in Japan is not because people are not interested in politics,'' he explains. ''It's because they are turned off by the system.''

A principal goal of Suzuki's campaign is to initiate a change from personality to policy driven politics. For many of Japan's electorate the country's struggle to emerge from recession is still a priority issue in the elections, with social welfare spending a close second. Yet the arguments put forward by contesting parties are lackluster.

LDP bigwigs are talking once again of boosting public spending, despite being bitterly criticized for spending about a hundred trillion yen in pump priming the economy. In contrast, opposition parties are pledging to increase social spending, without saying where they will get the money.

Against this dismal backdrop, political experts contend the general election will yield no surprises. Hisayuki Miyake, a political commentator, predicts that an LDP-led coalition will dominate the Lower House, assuring Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori of his post. But Sakurai still holds out hope that his movement can persuade voters to be more focused on issues and reject inept politicians. ''This scenario can only be avoided if the people learn to help themselves.''

(Inter Press Service)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.