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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…。
Japan'S Quirky Democracy
By SCOTT T. HARDS
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!
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
chu.htm
- uirky
- 気まぐれな
- election
- 選挙
- vote
- 投票する
- find myself interested in 〜
- 自分が 〜 を興味を持っていることに気づく
- closely
- 注意して
- scratching my head at 〜
- 〜 を見て(困惑して)頭をかく
- puzzling
- 戸惑わせるような
- untimely
- 思いがけない
- astounding
- びっくりさせる
- district
- 選挙区
- utterly crushing 〜
- 〜 を完全に圧倒して
- opposition
- 対立候補者たち
- primarily
- 主に
- sympathy votes
- 同情票
- the late 〜
- 故 〜
- by a landslide
- 圧勝で
- on his part
- 彼(竹下亘氏)の方は
- be represented by 〜
- 〜 に代表してもらう
- convicted criminals
- 有罪判決を受けた犯罪者
- re-election
- 再選
- bribe-taking
- 収賄
- opposition parties
- 野党
- Diet
- 国会
- were attempting to pass legislation to force 〜 to resign his seat
- 〜 に対する議員辞職勧告決議案を可決させようとしていた
- put 〜 to work for 〜
- 〜 を 〜 のために使う
- home constituencies
- 地元選挙区
- virtually unthinkable
- ほとんど考えられない
- public office
- 官公庁
- (are)highly regarded by 〜
- 〜 に重要視されている
- Family ties
- 血縁
- representatives
- 代表者
- do some representing
- かなり代表的な仕事をする
- Congress
- 米議会
- act on behalf of 〜
- 〜 のためになるように活動する
- cast their votes
- 投票する
- as directed by 〜
- 〜 に指示されたとおりに
- To do otherwise
- そうしないこと(指示に従わないこと)
- risks 〜
- 〜 という危険を冒す
- expulsion
- 除名
- draft
- 立案する
- independent
- 独自の
- proportional representation system
- 比例代表制
- individuals
- 個人
- Frankly
- 率直に言って
- essentially
- 基本的に
- purchase
- 買う
- hefty campaign contributions
- 巨額の選挙献金
- faceless
- 顔のない
- function
- 役目を果たす
- utterly alien to 〜
- 〜 にとってまったく異質な
- perplexing
- 混乱させる
- seeming
- 外観上の
- manges to 〜
- 何とか 〜 する
- get the job done
- 任務を成し遂げる
- be fixed
- 直される
- but what country doesn't?
- しかしそうでない国があるだろうか?