Jul. 11, 2012 - 06:36AM JST
TOKYO —
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday came under fire from former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party for his handling of the rebels in the Democratic Party of Japan—37 of whom were expelled from the party on Monday.
Hatoyama, who was suspended for three months, said Noda should be ashamed of himself. He said that even one dissenting vote was one too many and questioned how Noda could govern the country when he can’t even govern his own party, Fuji TV reported.
Hatoyama also said he will set up a study group with other DPJ dissenters to study the contentious consumption tax bill which is the cause of the rift.
Meanwhile, LDP Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara criticized Noda for being too lenient toward Hatoyama. Ishihara said the three-month suspension was too short, Fuji reported. He said that DPJ dissenters were becoming increasingly disobedient and said the rift could lead to a collapse of the three-party agreement that forged a compromise on the tax and social security reform bills that Noda has staked his political life on.
Japan Today
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MeanRingo at Jul. 11, 2012 - 08:01AM JST
And how Hatoyama, can he be expected to govern his party when you and Ozawa are part of it? Just let the anarchists have a chance. It can't be that different, just fewer government stooges to pay off.
HowardStern at Jul. 11, 2012 - 10:30AM JST
This is what parties in power do in Japan. They escalate the arguments within their own party to keep the focus on them. The Liberal Democratic Party barely gets a mention when this happens. Tanigaki the leader of the opposition doesnt get any ink at all. It's all Noda, Ozawa, Hatoyama etc. They do this to maintain power and importance. The LDP becomes peripheral. The LDP did it for years when they were in power.
People of Japan, your tax rates are going up no matter what these bickering DPJ heads say. It's a done deal.
Tom Webb at Jul. 11, 2012 - 12:43PM JST
Hotoyama again. Kick him out of the party.
ubikwit at Jul. 11, 2012 - 12:51PM JST
I hope that this issue serves to catalyze some serious questioning of the numerous other pressing matters at hand.
Only with a little hard core debate about the issues are the people going to have a chance to put some politicos in office that they can hold accountable.
And the field is wide open for that at present. So it is interesting to see the somewhat flaky Hatoyama try and take a stand. If he can muster a little more disgruntlement in the ranks of the DJP, maybe there will be a no-confidence vote against Noda.
edojin at Jul. 11, 2012 - 05:50PM JST
How did Hatoyama get out of that hole he dug himself into? Anyway ... he should crawl back in and shut ... ... up.
smithinjapan at Jul. 11, 2012 - 07:12PM JST
As much of a bonehead as Ishihara is, he IS correct that the punishments were not severe enough -- now Hatoyama is back at it again despite being 'suspended'. And anyway, what right does HE have to speak about disgraceful actions as a leader? I'm not saying Noda isn't disgraceful -- pretty much EVERY J-politician is -- just saying Hatoyama doesn't really have any credibility to stand on.
Ben Jack at Jul. 11, 2012 - 07:21PM JST
This is rather rich coming from a guy that as prime minister could not keep promises he never meant to keep and could not seem to even remember getting huge amounts of money from his own mother. Hatoyama is the very definition of the pot calling the kettle black. Former prime minister 'Nabe'.
GW at Jul. 11, 2012 - 10:22PM JST
I REALLY HATE Japanese Ex-PMs what a loathful lot!
Hikozaemon at Jul. 12, 2012 - 12:39AM JST
Hatoyama's exact statement that made headlines, that this somehow missed out is - "the current government should be ashamed of itself, it has become the Noda Faction of the LDP".
And in that, he is most certainly correct.
Still, most above seem to agree with the LDP on this, that Hatoyama should have been punished more. For what? For speaking up for the public promises he made (and KEPT) on behalf of the party when he was PM, that differentiate the DPJ from the LDP?
Hatoyama is a flake - that is it. His only "lie" as PM was promising too much - believing he could convince the US to help with the Okinawa base issue reducing burden. That's it. He stayed true on tax, and was spectacular on administrative reform while it lasted.
Amazing how JT has become an MoF LDP policy fanclub in the last couple of years. People just don't seem to get what's at stake here.
marcelito at Jul. 12, 2012 - 09:09AM JST
Hikozaemon - spot on as usual. I also don
t get the Noda fan club out there - when he became leader Noda promised what? - to listen to and work for the people ( at the bottom of his fish tank :;)..so lets see his record now - - majority of people are against nuclear restarts ( big business is for it ) - result - Noda restarts the reactors - majority are against tax increase ( MoF bureaucrats are for it ) -result - Noda increases the tax - majority of people are for cutting governmet waste ( bureaucrats and cronies are opposed ) - result - Noda quietly continues the waste ( N-village budget including Monju reactor, Yamba dam, 3 new Shinkansen tracks recently approved )... Yep and this is the PM most of the posters here support?...Ehm...why?Ben Jack at Jul. 12, 2012 - 06:43PM JST
Erm, who says not liking Hatoyama equals liking Noda? At this point, I do not see much to like in either of them.
Hikozaemon at Jul. 12, 2012 - 09:46PM JST
Noda was in top form today. In the Upper House, he boldly declared that the next manifesto would include the policy of increasing the sales tax, and any DPJ member not agreeing to that would not be allowed to run in the next election.
It must be confusing for those who opposed the tax increase because it was breaching their previous manifesto.
I'm sure anyone still wondering what the DPJ now stands for will find it simple to just refer to the LDP manifesto.
DPJ president Koishi, whose job is to rebuild the divide with the 30 or so remaining dissenters who didn't leave the party, including Hatoyama, said that Noda was out of line and tonight Noda retracted the dumbass statement.
As someone who was a pretty enthusiastic DPJ supporter, and looking forward to the change of the guard, I'm actually thinking Japan was now better off under Taro Aso.
Peace
ubikwit at Jul. 13, 2012 - 02:29AM JST
Hikozaemon
Granted, things are pretty bad, but Aso?
What did he ever accomplish?
Wasn't he the guy who wanted to promote manga, etc. Keep the people preoccupied with inane entertainment, to dumb to realize that they are being deceived.
Like Hatoyama, Aso's descended from one of the industrialist families that avoided being charged as war criminals because they agreed to join the LDP and help the USA fight communism... But I believe that his family used POWs as forced labor in their coal mines in Kyushu or something like that.
Granted, the choices are limited, but no thanks to the LDP.
Although Ozawa's new party has an unwieldy long name that is more of a slogan, the LDP has never represented the interests of society at large.
You're right about Noda, he's a bumbling insider that's not going to be around much longer, and even if there is an election, it's unlikely to produce a result that won't mean more of the same immobility. I don't really think that there was anything else that Noda could have achieved other than the tax increase with the LDP controlling the upper house.
But obviously that tax increase is only a piece of the solution to the manifold problems. So I think it's good for people like Hatoyama to at least keep the pressure on and keep the public focused on the issues.
gonemad at Jul. 13, 2012 - 07:48AM JST
smithinjapan, your comment is hilarious. In a democratic society a politician should not be able to stick his convictions, for which he had been elected? When I look at the US, both of the big parties wouldn't have any members at all any more were they to punish dissenters in the same way...
Hategobo at Jul. 15, 2012 - 08:16AM JST
Being criticised by Hatoyama is like being savaged by a dead sheep