Fukuda vents irritation at DPJ chief Ozawa

Thursday 10th April, 04:10 AM JST

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13 Comments

Scrote at 09:21 AM JST - 10th April

The LDP hate it when they lose power. Their traditional "negotiating" approach of repeating the same thing over and over again whilst calling for "co-operation" doesn't work any more.

Fukuda can't get it into his thick head that ex-finance ministry bureaucrats will not be accepted as BOJ deputy governors. It's very simple to understand, but he continues to propose one bureaucrat after another for the posts.
GrouchyGaijin at 09:29 AM JST - 10th April

For Fukuda to call Ozawa's doing his opposition duty, opposing the government, "An abuse of power".....well, what can I say> Pot + Kettle = Black!
Simon_Foston at 10:14 AM JST - 10th April

"On the BOJ personnel, I have been at the mercy of the DPJ"

Any prime minister saying anything like that in the UK would be facing party leadership challenges if he wasn't already on the way to Buckingham Palace to tell the Queen he was resigning.
Shumatsu_Samurai at 05:29 PM JST - 10th April

For Fukuda to call Ozawa's doing his opposition duty, opposing the government

It isn't the Opposition's job to automatically veto government policy!

It may be its duty to scrutinise policy, but to block it for cynical reasons is an abuse of power. I would have had more sympathy for the DPJ if they had not done a U-turn over the deputy governor. First they supported him and then they said they didn't - no explanation for that, just (doubtless) another attempt at bringing down the government.
GrouchyGaijin at 08:48 PM JST - 10th April

Ah! But we wee gaijins are not privy to the workings of the mechanisms of state! Whissht!
Hikozaemon at 08:59 PM JST - 10th April

Once again Soka Gakkai acting as the government's lapdog, praising the PM for criticising the DPJ preventing the government to appoint BOJ governors with conflicts of interest, and not allowing the renewal of a 30 year old temporary tax used for decades to fund political kickbacks from construction companies to LDP polititians in country towns building roads no one needs.

Fukuda was around in 1995 - if he wants to see obstruction of power, look at what the LDP and burocracy did to gang up on the opposition parties for their 3 month tenure in power back then.

I hope that the DPJ continues to make life miserable for the LDP and Soka Gakkai government. Soka must be beginning to realize that if it wants any kind of future in political power, it will soon be a good time to jump ship from the sinking LDP led coalition and it is time to start standing up for its "principles" by joining the opposition.

Peace
Loki520 at 09:06 PM JST - 10th April

Typical Gakkai. Getting booted from NS was the best thing NS could have done. SG is so involved in politics it's a wonder ANYONE still considers them a religious activity.
Shumatsu_Samurai at 09:22 PM JST - 10th April

praising the PM for criticising the DPJ preventing the government to appoint BOJ governors with conflicts of interest

If the latest deputy governor nominee was unsuitable, why did the DPJ appear to back him previously? There were several DPJ members who voted for the deputy or refused to vote against him.

Fukuda was around in 1995 - if he wants to see obstruction of power, look at what the LDP and burocracy did to gang up on the opposition parties for their 3 month tenure in power back then.

You've mentioned this before and my response remains the same. Fukuda was not Prime Minister then, nor is it good for Japan if parties keep taking "vengeance" on each other. So if the DPJ were able to form a government but the LDP were able to block legislation, the latter should do so because the DPJ are doing that now. And when the situation was back to where it was now, the DPJ would block legislation again.

You are essentially advocating Japan falling into complete chaos simply to further petty agenda and decades-old feuds.

I hope that the DPJ continues to make life miserable for the LDP

What, by causing trouble for the country? Wow, that's mature. It's like burning the house down because your sibling has control of the TV.

it is time to start standing up for its "principles" by joining the opposition

As if the DPJ have any credible answers to Japan's problems. It's pathetic when people whinge about the LDP as if they're the source of all trouble. The DPJ have failed in Opposition for decades because they're a waste of space. I dread a Japan led by them because they don't make me think that they would know what to do. Their political game-plan is to complain and throw monkey-wrenches into the works. You can't do that in office. Doubtless they'd spend a whole parliamentary term blaming the LDP for everything whilst twiddling their thumbs thinking what to do next.

The real solution is for the younger and more intelligent members of the DPJ to leave and form a new party with colleagues from the LDP. Then Japan would have a real choice - simply moving from one party to another won't change anything. You'd realise that if you had real knowledge of Japanese politics.
illsayit at 09:37 PM JST - 10th April

Isnt what you are suggesting is what is going on here, both parties, are at the will of the people, really. They are debating out the peoples' choices, and Fukuda is probably the only one who could handle the cornering, Japanese people in one hand, and the rest of the World in the other. Actually, I like how Fukuda was described as getting genki! Now it is getting fun! Fukuda and Ozawa at chess! I mean what ARE they going to talk about when we know it is a waiting process. I agree though with this article's last line regarding the overall impotance of this issue, "insignificant detail".
Hikozaemon at 10:03 PM JST - 10th April

Shumatsu Samurai - Sorry I did not engage you previously, I didn't follow where I had posted and missed your comments - all valid.

1) The DPJ was right to oppose in principle the nomination of former Finance Ministry bureaucrats from being appointed to the head of the BOJ. The LDP was stubborn for suggesting replacement nominees that had the same conflict of interest, and who would never have been nominated in other G7 economies. The DPJ gave suggestions as to who it thought was neutral and suitable, and yet they continued making political nominees with conflicts of interest. The DPJ had the moral high ground on the BOJ governor issue and was right to reject the LDP's initial candidates.

2) My claim is not that this is justified by what happened in 1995 (those parties that governed then now no longer exist). I'm pointing out (1) the hypocrisy of accusing the opposition of preventing the government operating when his own party was guilty of that for the brief period it was in opposition, and (2) compared to the LDP's record of shutting down government while in opposition, this is absolutely nothing. Bureaucrats fully refused to work with any non-LDP government, and Japan basically shut down for 3 months - that was basically the beginning of Japan's recession that has lasted until today. The DPJ has stood on two issues that need upper house approval, but day to day business goes on. What Fukuda can't stand and is objecting to is the minimal level of oversight that the DPJ can now exercise over the LDP. I don't think it is aimed at the LDP personally, and I think that the degree of interference is no more different to how opposition controlled upper houses operate in other bicameral democracies.

3) I hope that the DPJ makes life miserable to the LDP in the sense that as I see it, being unable to appoint political cronies to neutral positions, to create corrupt war chests with temporary taxes and the like is making the LDP miserable when it should not have done these things in the first place. This is not Japan falling into anarchy - on the contrary. It is Japanese democracy finally bringing checks and balances to decades of corrupt unaccountable LDP anarchy.

4) I would say neither the LDP nor the DPJ have credible answers, but with no track record in government, as opposed to the proven failed track record of the LDP, the DPJ is the logical preference for replacement (just like the Dems and Reps in the US - when stuff gets to much, they let the incompetents from the OTHER side misrule). You are saying that the DPJ has no policies or principles other than to throw monkey wrenches in the works - the DPJ was the first party to publish policy manifestos when the LDP refused to, and in the days that the LDP would only let bureaucrats answer policy questions in the house. Even on these two issues, the repeal of the road tax and the appointment of a BOJ head, the DPJ has clearly stated principles and policies where the LDP does not - why is the DPJ being the stubborn unreasonable side.

The DPJ have been in opposition for 1 decade, and are precisely what you demand - a coalition of the more able (or opportunistic) LDP and opposition party leaders. Ozawa himself was a policy chief from the LDP and if he hadn't jumped ship, almost certainly would have been PM by now.

Now yes, the DPJ has its own factional issues with Kan's socialists and so on, but no less extreme or politically diverse than the old Nonaka / Koizumi / Kamei factions in the LDP.

I measure the DPJ and LDP as more or less equal, and where one party is too corrupt and tied to vested interests to govern properly, that is enough on its own to justify a switch to a not yet corrupt untested opposition. You'd realise that if you had real knowledge of Japanese politics, or how democratic systems work.

Peace
Shumatsu_Samurai at 02:13 AM JST - 11th April

Hiko

I wasn't talking about the initial candidates - I was talking about the new deputy governor, which I think was what Fukuda was really annoyed about. Maybe he could live with the initial candidates being rejected, but to indicate someone could take over and then do a U-turn at the last minute is clearly illogical. Even some members of the DPJ didn't agree with the decision.

The DPJ may have a manifesto, but if Ozawa was trying to bribe farmers in the last election I'm not sure whether he can be trusted.
medievaltimes at 08:45 AM JST - 11th April

Ha ha ha. Its amusing to watch the children argue in Tokyo.
Hikozaemon at 11:21 AM JST - 11th April

Shumatsu Samurai - so you are saying that any polititian or party that bribes farmers should not be trusted, right?

Peace