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All the Premier's Men (and Women) |
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Written by Todd Crowell
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Friday, 16 October 2009 |
 Japan's new government gets going with a flurry of activity
The new Japanese government, headed by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
was a month old on Oct. 16. His Democratic party of Japan (DPJ) swept
into power on a powerful sentiment of change. It is, of course, early
days, but it is not too soon to see if it is delivering on this
promised change.
The prime minister himself spent much of his
first month in office on the road, visiting New York and Pittsburgh for
the opening of the United Nations and the G-20 Summit. He flew to
Copenhagen to lobby for Tokyo's unlikely bid to host the 2016 Olympic
Games. Then he flew to Seoul and Beijing to meet with leaders of China
and South Korea.
His cabinet ministers, however, have been in
the news constantly. The cabinet had hardly been sworn in before Lands
and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara flew to Gunma prefecture in
central Japan to inspect the Yamba Dam project in central Gunma and
declare it would be terminated.
The DPJ campaigned on the notion
that the old regime spent too much taxpayer money on wasteful public
works projects, of which the Yamba Dam is the poster child. During the
month the minister announced that the government was freezing
construction of 48 of the 143 dam projects approved by the previous
administration.
The Hatoyama government plans eventually to
terminate about 100 dam projects budgeted at approximately ¥8 trillion
in construction costs (some of the saving may be offset by local
reimbursements for the disruption and job losses that will accompany
these terminations.)
Indeed, Maehara is turning into something
of a star of the new government's first month in office. It seems as if
he is on television every day meeting with prefectural officials over
dam projects, conferring with Japan Airlines over bailout plans,
meeting with local governments over plans to turn Haneda Airport into a
major regional aviation hub, meeting, meeting, meeting . . .
Of
course, the fact that he has movie-idol good looks doesn't hurt, but it
is also true that many of the new government's most important
initiatives fall under his portfolio: land, infrastructure, transport
and tourism. This includes plans to eliminate the tolls on expressways
and the "temporary" (in place for the past for past 30 years) gasoline
surcharge to fund new road construction.
Maehara also has the
Okinawa portfolio, and has made at least one inspection trip to the
southern island, where the relocation of American forces is the hot
topic. However, given its impact relations with the US, it is likely
that Hatoyama himself and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada will take the
lead in this sensitive issue.
If Maehara is the star of the
month, then Shizuka Kamei, Minister for Postal Reform and Financial
Services, is the bad boy of the new government. He went off the
reservation early on by proposing a blanket moratorium on debt accrued
by small businesses and some individuals.
The Hatoyama
government clearly does not like this proposal, which some estimate
could cost the country's banks trillions of yen in lost interest. But
it is not easy to rein him in. Kamei heads his own small party in a
coalition with the government and is not subject to party discipline.
He is a loose cannon.
The government needs the votes, few as
they are, of Kamei's New People's Party and its other coalition
partner, the Social Democratic Party (SDR) since it is just short of a
majority in the House of Councilors, the upper house of Japan's
bicameral parliament. One can assume that the DJP will strive mightily
to win a clear majority in July's election so that can dump its
partners.
Another prominent figure in the new government is
Yoshito Sengoku. As minister of state for administration he is the man
responsible for finding and cutting the "waste" in government spending
that it plans to apply to fulfill its campaign promise to provide cash
allowances to parents and end tuition for secondary schools.
In
the first month in office Sengoku reportedly has axed 2.5 trillion yen
from the previous administration's proposed 14 trillion yen
supplementary budget. When finished, the party will be turn attention
to cutting fat from the 2010 fiscal budget. The implementation of the
child allowances will likely be incorporated into that budget, which
goes into effect in April.
In other ways, the new administration
is pointing to change. Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, the only woman
besides SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima in the cabinet, wants to fulfill a
long-time ambition of Japanese feminists to permit married women to
keep their maiden name if they choose. She plans to introduce
legislation permitting this when the Diet convenes later this month.
During
the long period of Liberal Democratic Party government, 20 attempts
were made to change the Civil Law to allow women to use their maiden
names; all were defeated by conservatives who argued that such a change
would have a detrimental impact on family unity. The influx of many
young freshmen legislators, many of them women, may change this.
It
is also possible that Minister Chiba may lead a de facto moratorium on
capital punishment, as she is a member of the Parliamentary League for
the Abolishment of the Death Penalty. The above-mentioned Kamei is also
a longtime opponent who happens to head the League; SDP leader
Fukushima also opposes the death penalty.
It falls to the
justice minister to sign death warrants for convicted murderers after
their appeals are exhausted. The number of executions was accelerating
under the previous administration (Hatoyama's brother Kunio signed 11
warrants when he was justice minister). There are about 100 prisoners
on Japan's death rows.
Matters affecting the alliance with the
United States are likely to be put off until President Barack Obama's
visit in mid-November. However, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said
flatly that Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean will end in
January when the authorization expires.
Washington seems to be
taking this expected news equitably. It is more likely to resist any
changes in plans agreed to with the previous government to relocate
some American Marine forces in Okinawa, and there were signs from
Hatoyama this past week that the Japanese government may acquiesce.
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