The renewal of Japanese politics must start with the repudiation of
"Koizumi politics." The most important thing at the moment is the
thorough critiquing of Koizumi's approach. The former prime
minister's goal of Americanizing Japan will lead this nation down
the road to ruin. And rejection of that goal is the first step on
the path to a reborn, healthy Japan. But Prime Minister Abe's LDP-
Komeito ruling coalition can't take this step. A big opportunity
for political change in Japan is approaching.
"Peace is the only moral value that matters in the pursuit of
truth. But human society has only known the morality of oppression
and resignation." ? Romain Rolland
For a five-and-a-half year span from spring 2001 to autumn 2006,
Japan's mass media hyped and supported the Koizumi administration
in a way that resembles the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong,
which swept through China in the 1960s and 70s. The Japanese people
joined in the frenzied dance of adulation.
END
Mao's Cultural Revolution brought about the huge fantasy of Mao-
style Communism, and the Chinese people joined in the dance of
social destruction. The Koizumi Cultural Revolution's goal was to
Americanize Japan. Or more precisely, it was to bring about
Republican-style Americanization of Japan.
The true leader of the Koizumi Cultural Revolution was US
President George W. Bush. Koizumi tried to remodel Japan into a
country that embraced Bush's Republican-style politics. The former
prime minister was supported in his efforts by the Liberal
Democratic Party, New Komeito, government officials, the financial
sector and the mass media.
In my view, Koizumi was the most irresponsible and frivolous prime
minister in Japan's postwar history. The former premier took a
stable Japan and destroyed it; and after it had collapsed, he
simply walked away. Now the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is
left to shoulder the giant burden left behind by Koizumi politics.
For the Abe Cabinet to reverse Koizumi's burdensome legacy, it
needs to repudiate the very politics that brought the legacy about.
But the Abe Cabinet can't do this because Abe's political power was
created by Koizumi, and the new prime minister is seen as Koizumi's
successor.
Prime Minister Abe's stance is similar to that of Taira no
Shigemori, son of Taira no Kiyomori, as recorded in Rai San’y?'s
Nihon Gaishi (An Unofficial Japanese History): "If I obey my
father, I can't be loyal (to my country); but if I am loyal, I
can't obey my father." If Abe is loyal to the people of Japan, he
can't possibly continue with the policies fathered by Koizumi. But
if Abe decides to break with Koizumi, he would take a beating from
a mass media that still foolishly supports the path set by the
former prime minister, and inevitably, Abe's support would dwindle.
The Abe administration is caught between loyalty to the country and
duty to its "father," Koizumi.
This situation presents a huge opportunity for the opposition
parties to bring about political change. If the Democratic Party of
Japan can corral the other opposition parties into a unified front,
political change is possible.
