Taking a Right Turn

On the 16^th of December, 2012 the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) suffered one of the worst defeats in Japanese electoral history.  The landslide victory staged by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) saw the re-election of Shinzo Abe to the position of prime minister coupled with his party’s dramatic retaking of parliamentary seats.  Since the LDP has exercised a strangulating hold on the Japanese political scene for the last five decades, its ability to bounce back from the 2009 defeat is unsurprising.  In fact, the real story here is not a political turn to the right.  It is how people have turned away from the system entirely.

The 2009 Miracle (as it has been dubbed) was perceived by many to be a drastic change in direction for the country.  It saw the highest voter turnout in history, especially among women and younger generations.  Their combined support swept the conservative party out of power for the first time in decades and signaled growing displeasure with the establishment.  Though the voices of those so long disenfranchised by their country’s rigid, seniority-based patriarchy finally called for new leadership, their efforts proved futile and the 2013 election is a testament to their disappointment.  It was decided, not by those who voted, but by those who abstained making it an election, not won on the economy or foreign policy, but lost on disillusionment and dismay.  The massive turnout and groundswell of support for change in 2009 was deflated by the insipid quiescence of those entrusted to enact it.  And there is no way things could have gone any differently.

For a democracy to exist, people must enjoy the opportunity to choose between valid alternatives.  Though it makes overtures towards being a two party system, the reality of politics in Japan is far more sinister.  Even if they wanted to, neither party would be able to affect meaningful change for the whole system is a Gordian Knot of embedded political, bureaucratic, and corporate interests.  The Parliament is nothing but a squabbling side-show providing commercial breaks for the main event; the annual sacrifice of one Prime Ministerial effigy after another.  Most real power is wielded by the unelected bureaucrats who populate the ministries that make up the government, control the flow of money through the private and public sectors, use politicians as front men and fall guys, and are rarely, if really ever, held accountable.  Their tenure is spent obsequiously providing for the businesses they are assigned to oversee and, following their retirement, they are typically gifted high-paying low responsibility positions in those very industries.  Thus, they work hand-in-hand with those they are tasked to monitor leading to a perverse situation in which the referee is also a player and the goal is a cushy retirement.  This collusive arrangement has led to pachinko gambling and prostitution overseen by ex-police, official construction contracts that line the pockets of former officials, and nuclear inspectors who overlook safety violations to solidify their TEPCO funded retirement.  When everyone is in someone’s pocket, you end up with a sycophantic system founded on cronyism and the at-all-costs maintenance of the status quo.  The relationships that underpin Japan’s political system have existed for longer than its fiat democracy and, at this point, have served to thoroughly inure it to changes going on in the larger world.  The present manifestation of this system can, in large part, be traced back to a single historical turning point.

When the occupying force from the US arrived on Japan’s shores, its earnest intention was to plant and nurture the seed of democracy as it grew from the wartime ashes.  This was seen as a threat to the feudal-imperial regime and as a source of hope by the population at large.  But the spread of communism in Asia was enough to convince the US government that achieving the equality and empowerment necessary for democracy to function would require too much time.  Their pressing need for a country willing and able to support US military operations in Asia demanded an exigent solution.  Having left the bureaucracy largely intact, the Occupation employed the now infamous ‘reverse course.’ Pulling many of Japan’s wartime leaders out of the war crimes tribunals where they awaited trial and reinstating them to the country’s top positions (this included Shinzo Abe’s grandfather who was installed as Prime Minister), the move effectively re-established the fascist oligarchy that had so recently driven the country to such extremes of cruelty and sacrifice.  There was no room for democratic sentiment as the war weary population was once again militarized into loyal, selfless grunts and sent, this time, to the frontlines of an economic war waged to regain the lost glory, honor, and riches of the ruling classes.  In this way, the US betrayed the people of Japan and their fledgling democracy while facilitating the rise of a feudal-industrial state where wage slaves work themselves to death to support a parasitic, bourgeois class of myopic misogynists.

The 2012 election was not a turn to the right.  It was a grim reminder that the Japanese political system is a giant tatemae constructed to leverage the fact that people are never more easily controlled than when they falsely believe they have a choice.  Augment this with classrooms that inculcate submission and media that only presents sanctioned versions of the news and the result is an apathetic, misinformed population simultaneously confident it can change things and too listless or apprehensive to try.  But, perhaps the time has come when the people of Japan have seen through the veneer.  They turned out, protested, acted, and voted for change and, in the end, nothing came of it.  As a result, they are just what they should be: angry and disillusioned.  This is a good thing.  Anger is a potent force of change and disillusionment only exists in the wake of realization.  People asked for progress and were betrayed, first by the Occupation and then by their own system.  While their willingness to trust may be worn out, their desire for change is not so easily routed.  This election was not a turn to the right, but a turn towards righteous indignation.  With any luck, it will be the first of many as people realize that their government needs them more than they need it, that they are entitled to something more honest and dignified, and that they do have a choice.