[talk] Chain of Scandals Generated by Distorted Party Politics in Japan

Jun Iio: Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Jun Iio was born in 1962. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1986 and obtained a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tokyo in 19ÍX2. He became Associate Professor of Graduate School of Policy Science at Saitama University, 1993; Associate Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), 1997; and Professor at GRIPS, 2000. His Major is contemporary Japanese politics. Among his numerous publications is a book entitled ÊgMineika No Seiji KateiÊh (The Political Process of Privatization in 1980s Japan).

Shinichi Ueyama: Research Professor of Public Management at Georgetown University.

After graduated from Kyoto University, he joined the Japanese Ministry of Transport as a legal expert. In 1986, he joined McKinsey's Japan office as a management consultant where he became a partner. His expertise is corporate restructuring, strategic alliances and change management. He published 13 books, mainly on public sector reform. He has a Master¬s degree of public affairs from Princeton University. ueyama@pm-forum.org

Hiroshi Hoshi: Member of the editorial board of Asahi Shimbun Publishing, Co.

Hiroshi Hoshi was born in 1955. He graduated from the senior division of the College of Arts and Science of the University of Tokyo, before joining Asahi Shimbun Publishing, Co. in 1979. He was assigned to the political department in 1985, and went on to work as a political correspondent in Washington, D.C. from 1997 to 1998. After time as assistant editor of the political department, he is now a member of the political editorial board of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Mediation for public works allocation, the registration of policy secretaries only in name, the misappropriation of political money for private purposes great number of political scandals are being reported every day. These are "problems that have been repeated for more than ten years" (Iio). However, current discussion in the media has not successfully revealed what really happened, and "journalists cannot go beyond chasing scandalous affairs that come into the limelight one after another like fire spreading across a field of dead leaves" (Hoshi).
Japanese people are stricter than ever in the importance they are placing on the moral standard of politicians. They are not satisfied if politicians under suspicion only resign from their posts, leave their parties or resign from the Diet but fail to clarify their own responsibility, through the use of clever subterfuges. Should they assume legal responsibility, political responsibility, or moral responsibility? This should be clearly shown in individual cases, and the media should pursue the people under suspicion, taking such distinction into consideration.

In order to break the chain of scandals, which has existed for more than ten years, it is necessary not only to ensure that such immoral politicians quit the political scene but also to reform political parties that have ceased to function properly. Though Japanese political parties are currently in such an unfavorable condition that "they lack systematic or basic management" (Iio), new political parties in the true Western sense of the word may be formed by "adopting the movements and ideas of NPOs" (Ueyama). If a considerable number of Diet members are replaced and old political conventions are abolished due to such emergence of new political parties, political deterioration will be held back and a change of government, something that the Japanese people have practically never experienced despite being the citizens of a democracy, will be achieved.