WHo would you vote for? | Forum | Niseko, Hirafu, Kutchan

roaming 2009-08-29 19:28:15

Its election time in Japan! I am sure many people have been following this summers election as it looks like the DPJ (Minshutou) party is going to win, breaking a half a century of rule by the LDP (Jimintou) for the first time!!! [b]Who would you vote for? [/b] In the Shiribeshi area there are two main runners up: [b]Miyamoto Toru - LDP (Jimintou) Hachirou Yoshio -DPJ (Minshutou)[/b] And one person from the Kofuku Jistugen - like a cult?! Out of interest from the BBC coverage: [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8220610.stm[/url]

roaming (2009-08-29 19:52:53)

Key Issues link:

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8221058.stm[/url]

digglar (2009-08-30 17:44:22)

i would vote for the one who would let me vote.

Six8ten (2009-08-31 14:42:22)

I'd vote for the one who didn't drive around in a truck blasting slogans through loudspeakers.

roaming (2009-08-31 18:14:39)

So the results came in with a huge victory for Hatayama's DPJ party! He gave promise of change - mainly in the area of social welfare - and also talked about delaying any increases in taxes.

At a time where unemployment is at an all time high, and the economy just scraping out of the recession - he has a lot of work to do!

The DPJ won 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house to the LDP's 119, almost an exact reversal of their previous standing.

Chishiki (2009-08-31 22:06:58)

The LDP was out of power in the 90s for all of 11 months... but this new majority looks solid, less of a half-ass coalition than the previous group.

As far as Japan goes, I suppose this is a huge change, but I'm less certain. They seem like [url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/shukan-post/view/hatoyama-claims-donated-money-shows-mothers-love-for-him]more of the same[/url] to me on the issue I care most about, trustworthiness and economic stewardship, and bureaucrats who really seem to run Japan can't be voted out. I like the family credit, but I figure that'll take (18+?) years to show results, and they're just trying to dance around what they really need to do to address the problem NOW: relax immigration restrictions.

[quote]A study by the UN Population Division released in 2000 found that Japan would need to raise its retirement age to 77 or admit 10 million immigrants annually between 2000 and 2050 to maintain its worker to retiree ratio. ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan]source[/url])[/quote]

Still, it'll be nice to see some new faces, and some of the forthcoming polices have promise. Maybe they'll be able to do something radical that works and catch the world off guard. I promise I won't make any rash judgments ;) but I'm skeptical!

Go JAPAN!

Gtrain (2009-09-01 12:57:58)

That an important point that you raise there Chishiki. You can't vote out the bureaucrats. This is the issue all governements and companies face. No matter how good your intentions or policies are the voice of leadership can be filtered or distorted by the middle men.

It's the old management rule "get the right people on the bus" that needs to be carried out. This generally entales removing alot of dead wood from middle management/government departments.

It's an ugly thing to do and needs balls but needs to be done nonetheless.

And it won't happen (excuse me for starting a sentence with "And").

My 2 cents.

digglar (2009-09-01 13:02:27)

Can you imagine the deadwood in the Japanese beauracracy?

50 years one party in power

no non government watch dogs

amakaduri

budgets without specific goals attached

must be pertified forests [i][/i]

everywhere.

Chishiki (2009-09-01 17:45:36)

More skepticism:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/asia/01japan.html

coach (2009-09-01 19:29:39)

i like this quote from that article, kind of sums up what a lot of us go through here:

“To do anything new in Japan means dealing with a nightmare of licenses, rules and vested interests,” Mr. Sawada said. “For Japan to grow, and for it to stay competitive, it needs to get serious about opening up what are frankly backward sectors. I don’t get the sense the Democrats see that as a priority.”

will see what happens, but some change can't hurt right now.

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