Japan’s upper house election concluded safely last week, and it resulted in a strong win for prime minister Shinzo Abe and his pro-business, conservative and ironically-named Liberal Democrat Party (LDP), an outcome that was being hailed as a good move for for political stability and the continuation of the LDP’s “Abenomics” reforms. While Japan is a modern democracy that functions well in general, there are certain challenges that seem unique to the country. One big problem is the plethora of political parties, a total of 12 large and small parties which must by law be granted equal time for debating national issues. Most positions are widely duplicated among the various minor parties, like the Social Democratic Party or the People’s Life Party of parties like Green Wind, yet they almost never combine forces to try to push a policy through. Another problem is that there are actually too many elections in Japan, and it seems that 2-3 times a year everyone is stopping what they’re doing to campaign, which means driving around in an annoying loudspeaker car asking for everyone’s support. Hopefully the strong win by Mr. Abe means he has a free hand to bring real reforms to Japan.
Abe’s mentor is Taro Aso, the former otaku Prime Minister. Which makes us happy.
