There are probably a lot of people who read the following headline on the bottom half of page 3 in the Jan. 3, 2007 edition of the daily newspaper Tokyo Shimbun: "Upper House Election Poll Shows 50% Support for Government Majority"
Below is a quote from the story. I apologize for its length.
"Our paper joined with the Japan Association for Public Opinion Research to conduct a poll on voter preferences for the 21st House of Councillors election scheduled for this July. The poll of eligible voters was conducted on December 2-3. When asked how many seats the governing parties should maintain, 50% responded that they should keep a majority, while 42% responded that they should receive a minority of seats.
"Considering that a poll taken two months prior to the House of Councillors election in July 2001 showed 56% support for the governing parties, and that the same parties won big in the 2005 lower house election, it looks as if this year's upper house election may result in an even split of seats."
If this poll truly reflects the national mood toward the ruling LDP- New Komeito coalition, I can only wonder why the voters like this government so much. Of course, voter support is now less than it was six years ago when 56% responded that they wanted the governing parties to maintain a majority. But if 50% of the voters still hope for the current government to continue, then Japan is certainly an abnormal democracy.
Looking closer at the poll results, one finds that 41% support the Liberal Democratic Party and 5% support the New Komeito Party for a total of 46%. That's close to the 50% of people polled who said the governing parties should retain a majority. The Democratic Party of Japan garnered 24% support; the Japanese Communist Party registered 3%; and the Social Democratic Party came in with 2%. There were no figures for the People's New Party and New Party Nippon.
When the voters were asked about the coalition, 48% responded that the current LDP-New Komeito coalition should continue in power and should work with the minority powers to form policies. From the results of this poll, it looks like the ruling coalition is definitely in the lead.
This number ? 50% supporting the current governing parties ? is an unpleasant number at best. It's been about 60 years since Japan's Constitution was written. People who voted in the first election under the new Constitution are at least 80 years old today. The Constitution declares that Japan is a parliamentary democracy. The people are sovereign, and the Diet ? the pinnacle of national authority ? is made up of representatives elected by the people. The direction of the country's politics is decided by the people at the voting booth.
Yet, a country that never sees a change in political power can't be called a democracy, and Japan has never seen political change. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left behind a giant, burdensome legacy. The country suffers from a gap between the haves and have-nots (a gap that continues to widen); a ruinous fiscal situation (destroyed under the banner of "fiscal reform"); a crisis outside the main economic centers; a collapse of morality; a worsening social climate ... the list just goes on and on. Koizumi and the LDP-New Komeito coalition did some truly horrible things. The only way to reconcile the fact that 50% of the voters still support a government that is ruining the country is to conclude that the Japanese people are brainwashed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe started to fix one part of the problem, but basically his government is an extension of the Koizumi administration. Common sense calls for the voters to force a political reversal in this summer's upper house election. A national election gives the voters a chance to choose a government and criticize the current one. But if 50% of the electorate still backs the status quo, then the voters need a wake-up call.
The situation has to change. If at least 50% of the voters don't support a change, the current government won't reflect on its actions or grow more modest. It won't become any less arrogant. And we won't be able to force them to reflect on their ways. If we can find a way to bring about political change, then we could usher in an age of a two-party system (or at least the effort to make a two-party system), which is called for in a true parliamentary democracy. If political change becomes the norm, then voters would begin to have a choice. That's what a really democratic government is all about.
The upper house elections this year will serve as an opening skirmish for the coming lower house vote. These two elections could be historic votes that dictate whether the Japanese will finally end the perpetual LDP-New Komeito coalition and bring about a system where political change is possible. To give these elections the meaning they deserve, nothing short of a political upheaval will do. I sincerely hope that the Japanese people understand this.
Let me repeat: A country without political change is not a democracy. The upper house elections this year and the subsequent lower house elections provide the perfect opportunity for us to make sure Japan really is a democracy.

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