Seen and heard at the Diet

I was in attendance at today's session of the Upper House's Budget Committee, where it was my boss's turn to question the government.

I managed to see a line of questioning derived entirely from my own research posed to Prime Minister Abe and Defense Minister Kyuma, which was satisfying -- although the acoustics of the chamber (and lousy mics) made it difficult to hear the replies.

Meanwhile, having sat in that room, I can understand why one often sees members in attendance asleep in the background; between the marathon length of the meetings and the excessive heating in the committee room, it's amazing that anyone can stay awake. (And let's not forget the prime minister's anti-charisma.)

One thing I've noted in watching Diet deliberations is how sensitive the Japanese political establishment is to (critical) commentary on Japan from abroad. In a short span of time today, both the recent NY Times editorial on the comfort women resolution, discussed in this post, and the recent Newsweek cover article on Abe's unpopularity were cited by questioners. This was not the first time that I've heard Diet members draw on Western coverage of Japan. (If anyone knows of a "political psychologist" who has studied Japan's national "neuroses" -- surely a rich topic -- please let me know.)

International criticism shows no sign of letting up. The latest publication is The Economist, which in the current issue has both a leader and an article about Abe's problems in the wake of his comments on the comfort women resolution. (Adamu beat me to writing about this article.) Abe remains in trouble, but he's also been fortunate in his enemies; despite weeks of opposition questioning in the budget committees of the Lower and Upper House, the opposition parties seem to have done little to hasten the pace of the decline in Abe's popularity . The Abe Cabinet has remained particularly defiant on the issue of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (AFF) Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu's unusually large budget projections for "light, heat, and water" for an office at the Diet which had no utilities costs, with Minister Matsuoka still refusing to account for the irregularity (with no apparent pressure from the prime minister or other senior officials).

Matsuoka, for his part, is the subject of a recent book by Australian scholar Aurelia George Mulgan, called Power and Pork, which I am in the process of reading -- and which I plan to review.

Courageous or foolish?

The big story in political Japan today is that the drop in the rate of support for the Abe Cabinet has continued unabated, with the Asahi poll finding that the rate of support has dipped below the rate of people actively oppose to the cabinet.

What I found most interesting, however, was the Yomiuri poll (in Japanese), which asked which three issues voters want the Abe Cabinet to tackle. Coming in first, with 61.7%, was reforms related to pensions, health care, and social security; coming in second, policies to promote economic growth, with 52%; and beyond that, in no particular order, taxation, education, administrative reform, and growing inequality. My point here is that near the bottom of this list, clocking in with 6.2%, is constitution reform, the issue that Abe has declared to be the major point of contention in this summer's Upper House election.

I realize, of course, that the mark of a good politician and great leader is a willingness to buck opinion to do what he or she thinks is right, but I think there's a fine line between courageously standing up for one's beliefs and ignoring the public's concerns about the direction the country should go.

As such, after a poll -- conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun no less -- that shows the public favors dealing with just about every other issue on the agenda before constitutional revision, perhaps Abe should reconsider making this election the constitution election. So, I repeat my question: courageous or foolish?

Nagata-cho, day one

My service in Kanagawa Prefecture is at an end. I am now making the long commute -- along with most of the Tokyo metropolitan area, it seems -- to central Tokyo, to Nagata-cho, Japan's Capitol Hill.

No time was wasted today, as I was very rapidly thrown into the Nagata-cho life this morning. Almost immediately upon arrival at the office this morning I was whisked off to the Diet, where the Lower House's Budget Committee was meeting to discuss this year's budget. (Yomiuri on today's meeting here; Asahi here.) From a seat in media gallery, I had a clear view of the government's ministers, including Prime Minister Abe himself, as the government fielded questions from the opposition on anything but the proposed budget.

Indeed, the budget committee today -- at least this morning -- was used by the opposition to nag the government on the failings of its various members, including the smell of financial impropriety surrounding Agriculture Minister Matsuoka and Education Minister Ibuki, as well as a years-old bit of impropriety apparently committed by Finance Minister Omi (too complicated to spell out here), with the morning hearings finally steering in the direction of the budget just shy of lunch, when the government was asked about supporting for failing regions, with the name of "Yubari," the bankrupt city in Hokkaido, invoked to criticize the government for its regions policy. Shortly thereafter, when asked about whether current negotiations with Australia for a free trade agreement -- not to mention the barely alive WTO Doha Round -- will ensure sufficient protection for Japanese agriculture, Abe roused himself from his seat and delivered a surprisingly spirited defense of the expansion of free trade, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

I say surprisingly spirited because Abe looked bored throughout the session, even when he rose to address a question. Perhaps Abe's problem is that he's a presidential -- dare I say, Gaullist -- figure trapped in a parliamentary system, a parliamentary system in which the Diet has seen its powers grow in the past fifteen years as the once-powerful bureaucracy has seen its power diminish. I can't help but wonder if Abe wishes he was the head of state in a French-style system: president responsible for foreign affairs and outlining broad national goals, prime minister responsible for day-to-day management of parliament and moving the president's agenda. Thus the boredom that he seems to show in news recaps on television is not just the result of selective editing; it's his standard public posture.

In any case, the budget hearing was surprisingly lively, with both governing and opposition party members interrupting speeches, laughing raucously, and shouting speakers down.