Political Changes in Japan: Sudden or Glacial Change?

At times, Japan as a nation has vigorously embraced change. After Perry and the Black Ships, Japan rushed into an era of change, seeking to grow strong and modern. Again, after World War II, the Japanese accepted defeat and again embraced change, working hard to once again become a strong and successful nation. The 1960s came to Japan too, although Westerners probably perceive the movements of the 1960s as affecting Japan less than they affected the West. Since the 1970s, however, change in Japan has moved at what some see as a glacial pace.

One party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), basically remained in power since 1955, with the exception of a short period numbered in months. The LDP, which many see as neither liberal nor democratic, ran Japan as it emerged from the disaster of World War II to become a major economic power. While the Liberal Democratic Party was in power, unemployment sky-rocketed to the highest ever in the post World War II period. Although Japan's unemployment rate is officially still under 6.0%, the numbers do not track many people, and the actual numbers are significantly higher.

The LDP has always been a pro-corporate party, but had also worked to take care of the farmers and workers. Then the Liberal Democratic Party slowly dismantled the socialist aspects of Japan, allowing employers to hire more and more temporary workers with fewer benefits. Japan is quickly becoming a society of haves and have-nots much like the United States, moving away from the much more equitable Japan of the 1980s.

Enter the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Running for office on a pro-consumer platform, moving away from the pro-corporate LDP, the DPJ platform included benefits for the consumers. The DPJ has said they will make the expressways toll-free. High schools will become free too. All high schools, public and private, now charge for tuition. The DPJ also says they will introduce income support for farmers. For job seekers who are in training, the DPJ will provide monthly allowances. For those on the bottom of society, the DPJ will raise minimum wage. The DPJ will also cut taxes.

The DPJ is now taking office and embarking on their plan to make Japan a more consumer-oriented nation. Japan will change. The question is how much. I wonder if this will be the vigorous change experienced at pivotal points in Japanese history such as the beginning of the Meiji era and after World War II or if this change will be a glacial pace? Japanese voters are not optimistic, but they were sick of the LDP. Perhaps the DPJ will be the answer.

Many of the DPJ members used to be part of the LDP, as cynics point out, but the DPJ is now the only other option. Japanese consumers and consumers from other countries living in Japan now wait and hope for a more egalitarian society.