The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has ruled the Asian country for all but 11 months since 1955. According to the party propaganda, it was the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that pulled Japan out of the ashes of World War II, but Japanese voters have said enough is enough. After having three different prime ministers in three years, with all three of them failing to pull out their country out of the economic turmoil it has suffered, the LDP has been given a resounding NO! vote.

Waiting only two hours after the polls closed before conceding defeat, the leader of the LDP, Prime Minister Taro Aso has said he will also resign as the President of the LDP, saying,

The results are very severe. There has been a deep dissatisfaction with our party.

I would say the words “very severe” are a bit of an understatement. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has won 308 of 480 seats of Japan’s lower house of Parliament. That sounds pretty much like a landslide to me.

Yukio Hatoyama

The leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, seems to be a sure bet for Japan’s next Prime Minister. The official campaign only lasted for two weeks and the Democratic Party made a lot of promises, most of them very broad, sweeping proposals, with very few specifics mentioned. As mentioned in the article from The Associated Press, it seems the election was more about wanting something different than the LDP, rather than exactly what the DPJ had to offer. In other words, it was more of a rejection of the LDP than anything else. It makes me wonder if the citizens of Japan will have much patience with the new political power, if their sweeping proposals do not help the country.

The Democrats’ plan to give families 26,000 yen ($275) a month per child through junior high is meant to ease parenting costs and encourage more women have babies. Japan’s population of 127.6 million peaked in 2006, and is expected to fall below 100 million by the middle of the century.

The Democrats are also proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts. The estimated bill comes to 16.8 trillion yen ($179 billion) if fully implemented starting in fiscal year 2013 – and critics say that will only further bloat Japan’s already massive public debt.

While all of this sounds good, they will be faced with the same question that has arisen in America. Exactly how will all of this be paid for? As people across America are asking, so should the citizens of Japan. With more Japanese citizens on pensions and the tax base falling, where will the money for these programs come from? I believe that is a fair question for citizens of both countries to be asking.

There is also indications that the DPJ will attempt to much more independent of the United States, when it comes to foreign policy. They have expressed to remain a key ally with America, while strengthening their relations with their Asian neighbors. While the fortunes of both countries are certainly intertwined, it is a fair assumption to say that Japan needs strong ties in their own region. Pulling back from Washington may be a necessity to make that happen.

One thing for sure, change is bound to come to Japan. Her citizens have rejected the status quo, at least for now. We shall see how it plays out.

Tags: Asia, Democratic Party of Japan, Japan, Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Aso, Yukio Hatoyama

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 9:22 pm and is filed under News/Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.