Japanese election upends long-ruling party

A brief search didn't show this topic, and I think it is a very important event.
Japan is an important ally in Asia. This election ends over fifty years of the pro-business party rule.
The economy in Japan got voters to elect a left-of-center government
news.yahoo.com...

Japan's ruling party conceded a crushing defeat Sunday after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule as voters were poised to hand the opposition a landslide victory in nationwide elections, driven by economic anxiety and a powerful desire for change.

The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.

and this, which somehow sounds familiar.

The Democrats have embraced a more populist platform, promising handouts for families with children and farmers, a higher minimum wage, and to rebuild the economy.

"The nation is very angry with the ruling party, and we are grateful for their deep support," Hatoyama said after the polls closed. "We will not be arrogant and we will listen to the people."

more information:
www.ft.com...
DPJ sweeps to power in Japan
Change in the air as polls point to DPJ win
The DPJ has won 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house...

[edit on 30-8-2009 by DontTreadOnMe]

Remember though that in ultra capitalist countries like Japan and the USA the "centre" is still very right wing, and "left of centre" parties are still extremely pro-capitalist in nature. Obama's policies epitomise this - anything to keep the capitalist ruling class in power!

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Hopefully the Japanese Democratic Party upholds their election promises, unlike what the Democratic Party here in the U.S. has done.

Originally posted by Ferris.Bueller.II
Hopefully the Japanese Democratic Party upholds their election promises, unlike what the Democratic Party here in the U.S. has done.

Having what to do with the topic? Let's not jack the topic.

this desire for 'change' appears to be a very important theme to many nations and people around the world today.

it is very hopeful and inspiring to me, as a young man, to be alive during such a seemingly important time in human history.

i can only suppose that the tide is turning against business as usual. tired of wars, economic dictators and repression, quantitative over qualitative advancement and the like.

i could be wrong but this is what i see.

my best wished to japan and the japanese people, i really do hope they get what they are after.

chance is certainly afoot, who brings it and where and when it happens is not always so clear cut, but it IS afoot.

My biggest concern is that the voters will expect changes basically overnight and lose confidence in the new party before the party has a chance to implement those changes.

Sometimes, the promise of change can be its own worst enemy if it doesn't show results fast enough.

reply to post by jam321


really keen point jam

i have to agree, and i think that this is happening here in the usa, to a degree.


patience is a virtue, meaning most of us don't have it.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by Ferris.Bueller.II
Hopefully the Japanese Democratic Party upholds their election promises, unlike what the Democratic Party here in the U.S. has done.

Having what to do with the topic? Let's not jack the topic.

Everything.

From the opening post:

and this, which somehow sounds familiar.

The Democrats have embraced a more populist platform, promising handouts for families with children and farmers, a higher minimum wage, and to rebuild the economy.

"The nation is very angry with the ruling party, and we are grateful for their deep support," Hatoyama said after the polls closed. "We will not be arrogant and we will listen to the people."

Japan is an interesting country, and there people are unlike us in many important ways. They have much more trust in government, and a much larger social consciousness.

I have recently posted long replies on the "bill maher says americans are stupid" blog regarding the fact that few americans know anything of politics, history, geography, etc. Interestingly, i have family in japan (yeah, japanese ones), and when they last visited in november, i recall asking them many questions about their government policies, about traditional medicine practices (i have high interests in natural medicine here), and also about what they think of american foreign policy and our war in iraq. What really surprised me is that my cousin really had no knowledge of any of these topics at all. He is well educated, and actually works as the translator and coordinator between the US military and japans media and information services, so i thought he would have some input....but he had no idea that there was a huge debate over the war in iraq here.

Apparently, people over there are kept just as in the dark, if not more so, than people over here. I know there has been a bad recession there for well over a decade now, but it must be getting really bad for them to work to change the status quo.

I'm actually happy to see this.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (Despite the name, it's actually conservative) should've been gone a long time ago.

One of the main reasons why I'm happy to see them gone is that they have tried, recently, to ban certain aspects of anime and manga's. As a huge anime fan and a HUGE opponent of censorship, I'm glad to see them removed.

Glad to see change has come to Japan.

For decades, the conservatives have had control.

This election has very deep impacts on the United States.

The Market Ticker can put it into perspective for you:

The DPJ has audacious goals in terms of social spending. One way to meet them could be to sell some or part of their US Treasury holdings to raise cash (oops!), which would have dramatic and immediate impact in our Treasury market. It could also do interesting things to the Yen/Dollar balance, but between that and trying to sell huge quantities of additional debt into the Japanese market, I suspect the former, rather than the latter, would be the wiser policy - for them.

Bye bye USD

reply to post by Mak Manto


Yeah. Over here, Otaku's consider being and otaku a good thing. However in Japan, they are categorized as social misfits, and a bane to society.

Its kind of like those kids that watched the show "Jackass" people wanted to get rid of the show because it inspired kids to do stupid, injury causing things.

Also how being a techy/geek type of person used to be stereotyped (shy, weak, anti-social.)

Its an interesting system in Japan.

The voter turnout here was quite high compared to last year's election. There was an increase of over 5 million votes just for the absentee ballot. I think the final is projected around 70%.

To the americans who are looking at this and seeing obama written all over it, this is NOT america. The plans for child care subsidies aren't in the same league as the USA's subsidy plans. Yours is economic, Japan's is aimed primarily at increasing the birth rate. From what I've seen of the plan, I like it - and if it's successful in it's goal, it will be a sound investment. The other big stimulus they're talking about is removing highway tolls - which are quite high (one way on the east-west hokkaido expressway from Sapporo to Obihiro runs me about $45 US). I can see that having an impact on my bottom line, and likewise on my company's bottom line.

Those campaign promises were an issue, but they're not all that important. The big reason for the change here is that the old guard failed. Koizumi was a powerhouse of a leader, love him or hate him. Even people who hated him had to hand it to him for having style. He did some incredible things for this country. But when he stepped down in '06, it became clear that he was the lynchpin - there was no one else of his calibre in the stable. Abe transcended "lame duck" and moved straight into "wet hen". He lasted 1 year before he screwed up badly enough to resign. Fukuda stepped in in the '07 election and resigned a little under a year later. In September '08 we got Aso Taro at the helm - and he was lackluster at best, a gaffe-prone caretaker at worst.

So from 2006 to 2009, there have been 4 prime ministers: Koizumi, Abe, Fukuda, Aso. One a yer, really. Aso was chosen by a session in the Diet, as opposed to a general election. That's the main reason for this shift: a lack of confidence in the LDP to produce someone capable of governing, at a time when Japan needs a stable government.

It's not a shift to the right or left - it's a shift towards something that will hopefully be able to last the next 4 years without imploding.

reply to post by Tentickles


That's not going to happen.

Fear mongering from the person who is writing what he thinks will happen on his blog does not mean it will happen...

Fear! Be afraid of change! Even though the conservatives have been controlling the country FOR 54 YEARS, it's still bad change is coming!

Originally posted by Miraj

Yeah. Over here, Otaku's consider being and otaku a good thing. However in Japan, they are categorized as social misfits, and a bane to society.

That's just not true.

Outgoing PM Aso is widely referred to as otaku.

ok, possibly not the best example.

Otaku - when prefaced by the type - is a fairly common way of describing someone obsessed with a specific hobby. A friend of mine is routinely called a fly-fishing otaku by his co-workers. It's not derogatory.

Where Otaku has been used as a negative term has been in conjunction with serious crimes committed by someone who is otaku - like the rampage in Akihabara.

Originally posted by Mak Manto

Fear! Be afraid of change! Even though the conservatives have been controlling the country FOR 54 YEARS, it's still bad change is coming!

it hasn't been 54 years. There was a coalition government in power from 1993 to 1996.

reply to post by vox2442


Except, in this case, when we saw otaku, we refer to a person who's a fan of anime and manga's, and the conservatives have been trying for a while now to censor and ban some of it.

Censorship is always a no-no.

Originally posted by vox2442

Originally posted by Mak Manto

Fear! Be afraid of change! Even though the conservatives have been controlling the country FOR 54 YEARS, it's still bad change is coming!

it hasn't been 54 years. There was a coalition government in power from 1993 to 1996.

Except that was a majority in the parliament. The prime minister was still a conservative, and it was short lived.

It died out quickly before anything could be done effectively.

reply to post by vox2442


I see. Forgive my comment then. Just from every show I've seen from Japan (which is only a couple to name) it seems as though someone who deeply loved anime is often looked down upon and ridiculed by the rest of society.

Originally posted by Mak Manto

 

Except, in this case, when we saw otaku, we refer to a person who's a fan of anime and manga's, and the conservatives have been trying for a while now to censor and ban some of it.

Censorship is always a no-no.

We?

I live in Japan. I speak Japanese, I read Japanese, and I conduct my daily life in Japanese. I have not had a face to face conversation in English since July. I'm referring to how the word - and the idea - is used and perceived here.

I stand by my statement.

Also, I think you'll find that calls for censorship have been coming predominantly from the left -and/or- as a response to pressure from abroad. Just going by what I read in the paper. You'll also find that aside from censoring pornography (adding a mosaic) the government is quite restricted by law in what it can and can't censor.