Victorious Kan should show leadership to make Japan vibrant
(From The Japan Times September 16 issue)

菅代表再選、日本を活気づける政策を

Prime Minister Naoto Kan saved his job by beating Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, in the Sept. 14 election for DPJ president. In a big win, he got 721 points from DPJ Diet lawmakers, local assembly members, and registered party members and supporters against Mr. Ozawa’s 491 points. But he should not be disillusioned into thinking he enjoys strong support or feeds strong expectations.

The race was between a prime minister who has not yet demonstrated leadership and a leader dogged by a negative image of a tainted politician despite his rich political skills and ideas. Mr. Kan must prove his worthiness by leading the nation in solving the problems that Japan faces, including deflation and the steep rise in the yen’s value. As a year has passed since the DPJ came to power, more important for Mr. Kan than just tackling immediate problems is to think again about what was significant in the change of government, and to show the kind of country the DPJ wants to build and how to achieve it.
Although the approval rating of the Kan Cabinet has been rising since around the July 11 Upper House election, in which the DPJ was defeated, it is not based on any concrete achievements by Mr. Kan. It rather reflects people’s desire to avoid seeing Japan’s prime minister rotate in a short time. 

The rise in the approval rating also reflects people’s dislike of Mr. Ozawa, who is suffering from a bad image stemming from a scandal over suspected political funds reporting irregularities. 
In the vote by DPJ Diet members, Mr. Kan received 412 points from 206 lawmakers and Mr. Ozawa 400 points from 200 lawmakers. The fact that the DPJ Diet members’ support for the two candidates is split almost equally points to a deep schism in the party. It also shows that Mr. Ozawa will continue to maintain a certain degree of influence in the party. Mr. Kan must tackle the difficult task of bringing unity to the party and creating a party setup conducive to getting cooperation from DPJ Diet members across different groups.
The DPJ presidential race created a political void for two weeks. But it gave people a chance to hear Mr. Kan and Mr. Ozawa speak about their thinking and policy proposals, and to judge them. Mr. Ozawa called for faithfully implementing policy promises contained in the DPJ’s 2009 Lower House election manifesto. He also called for removing strings attached to grants given to local governments. But the question of how to finance his proposals remained hard to answer. Mr. Kan said that given the current financial conditions, the policy promises contained in the manifesto should be revised if necessary. He also called for a full-scale reform of the tax system, including the consumption tax. Now that he has retained his job, he must develop and present a concrete road map for tax reform.

On the issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a populated area of Ginowan, in the central part of Okinawa Island, Mr. Ozawa hinted that he will start new talks with the United States and Okinawa. Mr. Kan said that he will push the May accord with the United States to move the Futenma functions to Henoko in Nago in the northern part of the island while trying to reduce the burden on Okinawan people. But he should realize that just sticking to his position may not solve the problem as Okinawan people’s opposition to the accord is mounting as shown by the results of the Nago assembly election Sept. 12.

Mr. Kan cannot rest on his laurels. In the Diet, he must develop political ability and mobilize the DPJ’s political resources to get bills passed in the Upper House, which is controlled by the opposition.

More basically, he must closely examine himself as prime minister. His flip-flops about his proposal to raise the rate of the consumption tax during the Upper House election campaign betrayed that he did not deeply think about the issue. It only hinted that he was co-opted by bureaucrats and just repeated what they said. The fact that he dropped the slogan “From concrete to humans” from the DPJ’s Upper House election manifesto shows that he had no understanding of what the DPJ tried to achieve through the change of government after its victory in the 2009 Lower House election.
As Japan faces a rapidly graying population as well as fierce competition from emerging economies, Mr. Kan must show ways to make Japan economically and culturally vibrant, even if economic growth is not so high, and assuage the worries that people have about their future.

　菅首相は民主党代表戦で小沢前幹事長を破り再選を果たしたが、国民から強い支持や期待を寄せられていると勘違いしてはならない。今後、首相はデフレや円高の解決に向けて統率力を発揮しなければならない。民主党が与党になって１年、政権交代の意味を見つめ直し、国づくりの道筋を示すべきだ。

　参院選以降の菅内閣支持率上昇は、短命政権連続の回避を望み、政治資金問題がからむ小沢氏を嫌悪する国民の気持ちの表れだ。国会議員の獲得票では両候補がほぼ互角だったことは、党内の亀裂を示しており、今後も小沢氏は一定の影響力を維持するだろう。

　小沢氏は09年衆院選マニフェストの着実な実施や、地方への補助金の一括交付金化を唱えたが、財源は明示できなかった。菅氏は経済状況をかんがみたマニフェストの修正と、消費増税を含む税制抜本改革を訴えた。再選した菅首相は、税制改革への道筋を示さなければならない。

　普天間移設に関する再交渉を示唆した小沢氏に対し、菅氏は沖縄県民の負担を軽減しながら５月の日米合意を踏襲すると述べた。県民の合意への反対は高まっており、菅首相は主張を固持するだけでは解決が難しいことを認識すべきだ。国会では、政治能力を発揮して野党が多数を占める参院での法案成立に努めねばならない。

　参院選での消費税発言のブレは、首相が官僚に取りこまれたとの印象を残した。また｢コンクリートから人へ｣のスローガンを参院選マニフェストから削除、政権交代で民主党が目指したことへの理解の欠如がうかがえた。

　高齢化や新興国との経済競争といった問題を抱える日本を経済的、文化的活性化への道を示し、国民の未来への不安を和らげるべきだ。