In 2009 the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the conservatives, lost power in the Japanese Diet for the first time in over 50 years. They had spearheaded Japan’s rise from the ashes of defeat in 1945.

By David Jack

The Japanese traditionally vote for ‘the devil they know rather than the devil they don’t’. However, in 2009, following almost 20 years of deflation and unresolved foreign policy conflicts, the electorate finally had had enough and voted in a centrist government, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). This gaggle of liberal centrists and Socialist leftovers formed the new government but were unable, battered by the tsunami and nuclear crises, to gain the respect of the public and the Diet remained mired in confusion and internal strife. Now 5 years after his first term of failure in office Abe Shinzo returns on a very low turn out and with below 30% of the total vote.

Abe is an uninspiring politician with a doleful face. He had one go at the job but gave up, unable to handle the stress. Like some 50% of Japanese politicians he is the son or daughter of a politician. His grandfather was former Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, a suspected war criminal, and Abe Shintaro, the new Prime Minister’s father, was Foreign Secretary in the Eighties. His son is there to guard this conservative legacy. There is no vision with this kind of politician, just the common practice of looking in the rear view mirror to see what Dad or Grandad would have done, but could not achieve. He is a hawk; but not one who does the fighting. His return to power is directly related to Japan’s decline as an economic power.

Like the resurgence of UK Independence Party, Japanese conservative, nationalist forces are not happy with the emergence of a strong China, a highly competitive South Korea and a weak United States. Japan is no longer No 1, being over taken by China for 2nd place two years ago. The strong yen is holding down exports, something like one third of the working population are part-timers on low wages, there is a low birth rate and society is aging fast.

What is the new strategy to restore greatness? More public spending of the pork barrel type; a return to use for most of the 50 nuclear reactors already in place; removal of comfort women from the record on the Pacific War; a sense of renewal of the US-Japan alliance; and a greater focus on the threats of China in the Senkaku Islands and with South Korea and  Takeshima in the Japan Sea.

What is encouraging is that, by and large, the Japanese voters especially those under 35, do not really accept the need for a new constitution to replace the current American Constitution; neither are they excited by the prospect of further military measures to oppose China and Korea. Japan still awaits a new direction, but there are no competent leaders in sight.

David Jack runs Fieldwork, an organisation engaged in social-cultural-environmental activities in Asia.