tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post112980889579507743..comments2023-10-09T00:45:55.603+09:00Comments on Shisaku: MTChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-1129891395471838332005-10-21T19:43:00.000+09:002005-10-21T19:43:00.000+09:00To avoid any misunderstanding, let me add that whe...To avoid any misunderstanding, let me add that when I speak of the "cynicism with which he views the Japanese body politic, always something of a caricature", I am not imputing to Mr. Brasor any personal qualities of cynicism, nor am I dipicting his personal view as a caricature. Instead, I am branding as cynical (NTTAWWT) and now increasingly a caricature a view widely held among foreign observors of post-WW II Japan. To quote Michael Corleone, " It's not personal... It's strictly business."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-1129888672749247092005-10-21T18:57:00.000+09:002005-10-21T18:57:00.000+09:00Ditto, MTC, on Mr. McCormack. For example:"Nearly ...Ditto, MTC, on Mr. McCormack. For example:<BR/><BR/>"Nearly four years after he was first elected Prime Minister, promising to "reform" Japan even if it meant destroying his own party, the LDP, Koizumi did the unthinkable: he secured an even bigger majority by promising again to do more-or-less the same, having failed ignominiously in the meantime to advance a reform agenda."<BR/><BR/>Not everything Koizumi has touched has turned to gold, but he has set quite a few changes in motion, and some of them are potentially far-reaching; that's why he's so popular, and why the DPJ has lost traction. Either that, or we have to conclude that the Japanese people are incredible fools for being taken in, but that surely is not what Mr. McCormack implying. You know, I don’t think Mr. McCormack likes Koizumi nor the LDP, and this distorts his commentary.<BR/><BR/>"LDP Electoral Performance, 1996-2005 [5]<BR/>1996 Votes 39% Seats 56%<BR/>2000 Votes 41% Seats 59%<BR/>2003 Votes 44% Seats 56%<BR/>2005 Votes 48% Seats 73%<BR/>The cause of democracy is ill-served by a system that so grossly distorts the popular will."<BR/><BR/> If you agree with that, then you must agree with the following:<BR/>"Clinton Electoral Performance, 1992<BR/>44,909,806 Votes 43.0% Electoral votes 68.8%, seats 100%<BR/>The cause of democracy is ill-served by a system that so grossly distorts the popular will."<BR/>What Mr. McCormack is criticizing is actually the first-past-the-post, single-seat electoral system that has served Anglo-Saxon democracies so well over the years. You can't blame the system for the slowness with which the two-party system is evolving in Japan. I suspect what Mr. McCormack really doesn't like are the results.<BR/><BR/>"Beyond the DPJ the opposition benches accommodate the Japan Communist Party, whose vote has fluctuated between about 2 and 8 per cent throughout the postwar era, the Social Democratic Party, which as Japan Socialist Party (till 1994) used to gain the votes of around 15 per cent of the electorate but slowly shrank to a shadow of its former self as today's Social Democratic Party after the fateful choice made by its leader, Murayama Tomiichi, to accept the constitutional legitimacy of the Self-Defense Force (SDF) and endorse the US-Japan security treaty and the Hinomaru and Kimigayo as national flag and anthem, and now the postal rebel independents and several small new parties. Despite its 1990s identity confusion, the SDP was able to weather the Koizumi hurricane, even slightly increasing its parliamentary representation in the September election, by insisting on the principles of peace and constitutionalism."<BR/><BR/>There is some truth here, but wasn't the JSP merely following the tidal shift in popular opinion in favor of a "normal nationhood”? Like the USSR, they lost the power of their convictions; Murayama's act was only the logical result of this devolution. Perhaps Mr. McCormack pines for the days when there seemed to be a clear choice between malignant militarism and idealistic pacifism, but, like it or not, the Japanese people are increasingly embracing the boring, middle-of-the-road post-WW II normalcy that all sovereign democracies have enjoyed, including, dare I say it, Japan, in practice? But that is another thread.<BR/><BR/>I’ll stop here. There’s nothing wrong with being true to your values in the face of change, but you can't let that blind you to reality.<BR/> <BR/>Actually, in all fairness to Professor McCormack, he gives quite sober, and sobering, comments <A HREF="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1458466.htm" REL="nofollow"> here</A>. So maybe it was just “his disquiet boiling over.”<BR/><BR/>Mr. Brasor shares Mr. McCormack’s negative take on the first-past-the-post electoral system, but the cynicism with which he views the Japanese body politic, always something of a caricature, is increasingly also an outdated stereotype.<BR/><BR/>Just as briefly on the Mr. Kang quote: It reminded me of the difficulty I had in conveying to Americans how strongly the fate of the abductees resonated with the Japanese public and had come to overshadow and dominate the entire Japan-North Korea relationship.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com