Japan'S Quirky Democracy
By SCOTT T. HARDS
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日本の気まぐれな民主主義
日本の気まぐれな民主主義
日本に15年近く住んでいる筆者は、
日本の選挙に強い関心を抱いているが
なぜこの人が、と思うような人が
圧勝するのに驚くことが多い。
今回の総選挙でも…。
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Well, the election is over and almost everything is the
same. Isn't that the way it always works here in Japan?
As a foreigner, I of course don't have the right to
vote in this country. But I still find myself
interested in Japanese politics and I watch elections
very closely. And although I've lived in Japan for
nearly 15 years, even now I sometimes find myself
scratching my head at the choices of Japanese voters.
There were plenty of puzzling examples this time:
Yuko Obuchi, who until her father's untimely death had
never shown any special interest in politics and who has
zero experience, was elected with an astounding 76.4
percent of the vote in her district, utterly crushing
the opposition, primarily one experienced politician
who had been elected 11 times during his career.
Were these just sympathy votes? Or do the voters of
Gunma believe her to be that much better than anyone
else? Likewise, voters in Shimane elected the brother of
the late former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita by a
landslide, despite a lack of any experience on his
part.
Voters in Mie and Ibaraki de
cided that they wanted to be represented by convicted
criminals. Takao Fujinami and Kishiro Nakamura won
re-election, despite the fact that they have been
convicted of bribe-taking. It was just last fall that
the opposition parties in the Diet were attempting to
pass legislation to force Fujinami to resign his seat.
Perhaps voters believe those men will now put their
money-collecting skills to work for their home
constituencies.
In the United States, it would be virtually
unthinkable for someone to be elected to public office
under circumstances like these. Experience and morals
are generally highly regarded by voters. Family ties
are not.
Maybe U.S. voters are a bit more careful whom they
vote for because their representatives actually do
some representing! In the U.S. political system, members
of Congress are more able to act on behalf of their
home districts than in Japan.
Here, party members are simply expected to cast their
votes as directed by their party's leaders. To do
otherwise risks punishment and expulsion from their
party. They almost never draft legislation. Under such
con
ditions, how can a Diet member possibly make independent
decisions on behalf of their home district?
And then there's the proportional representation
system — people casting votes for parties instead of
individuals. Just who are these people that the parties
are sending to the Diet? Frankly, anybody they want to.
Entertainers or other famous people are not unusual.
Worse, there have been cases where it appears wealthy
individuals were essentially able to purchase a seat
in the Diet through hefty campaign contributions.
Nobody has voted directly for these faceless
politicians, yet they function with as much power in
the government as those directly elected by the public.
This concept is utterly alien to Americans.
But you know what the most perplexing thing about
all of this is? Somehow, despite all of these seeming
problems, Japan's democratic system manages to produce
a group of leaders who generally get the job done.
Sure, this country has a lot of things that need to be
fixed, but what country doesn't? It's a great place to
live and I'm not going anywhere!
Shukan ST: July 14, 2000
(C) All rights reserved
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