Dear Peter,

Thank you for your thoughtful account of the current situation in Japanese politics. I also thought that Koichi's article in the Guardian was very timely - and brought some of these issues to an audience outside Japan.

A lack of a major opposition has been a problem for Japan's democracy for a long time.

Since World War II Japan has had a 'single-party-dominant' system rather than a conventional two-party system. There have been very few House of Representatives elections in which the electorate has had a clear choice of the current government or an alternative 'government-in-waiting'. Instead, potentially serious declines in the LDP vote were taken as signs that the LDP needed to do something to please the voters. This is the 'safety valve' theory put forward by Chalmers Johnson. One example of this is the anti-pollution legislation of the 1970s which the LDP introduced despite the opposition of big business. Under this system the continuing LDP government was only really under threat from within. It lost in 1993 because of the breakaway of Ozawa and his half of the Takeshita faction, not because of the challenge of a strong external opposition.

In 1994 the election system for the House of Representatives was changed to try to bring about a two-party system. In 2009 it seemed that the reform had worked because for the first time since WWII one government was kicked out and a new one was installed. The failure of the resulting 2009-12 DPJ government is beyond the scope of the present discussion, but the fact is that today Japan lacks a single large opposition party united behind a coherent program which is perceived to be a genuine government-in-waiting. Opposition Diet members can and do attack the government for its many shortcomings and scandals. Abe was quite skilful in defending himself and his government against the opposition. I agree that in contrast Suga so far seems to be absolutely hopeless as a parliamentary performer. Factional support within the LDP for Suga however seems to indicate that this doesn't matter. Opposition to Suga cannot translate into a change of government at election time if there is no credible opposition party that is big enough to win. Where is the opposition?

Robert Aspinall

Doshisha University


------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* ssj-forum-bounces@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <ssj-forum-bounces@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp> on behalf of SSJ-Forum Moderator <ssjmod@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
*Sent:* 26 May 2021 11:03
*To:* ssj-forum@cal.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <ssj-forum@cal.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
*Subject:* [SSJ: 11453] Japan's opposition parties and the pandemic
From: Peter Cave <Peter.Cave@manchester.ac.uk>

Date: 2021/05/24

Today, Jochi political scientist Koichi Nakano published an opinion piece in the Guardian about the Japanese government's approach to the Tokyo Olympics (In Japan most people want to cancel the Olympics, but the government won't listen | Koichi Nakano | The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/24/japan-cancel-olympics-coronavirus <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/24/japan-cancel-olympics-coronavirus>>).
The article is very critical of the Suga government (with reason, in my view), and notes the high level of public dissatisfaction. It does strike me as very strange, however, that Professor Nakano makes no mention whatsoever of opposition parties - what they might be saying, or what the level of support for them is. It is even stranger, given that a general election is scheduled to be held in Japan later this year. I find it hard to think of any other major democratic country where
analysis would not touch on this subject.

The last opinion poll that I actually saw reported (by the Asahi on May 17) showed that alongside the record low approval rate of 33% for the Suga cabinet, 35% of voters said they would vote for the LDP in the PR section if a national election were held now, against 17% who would vote for the CDP. In other words, double the support for the LDP than for its main rival, despite record-low disapproval for the government. (And this is the PR section, where votes are purely for party. The LDP would probably do better in the SMD section.) See: Survey: Suga Cabinet approval rating ties record low of 33% : The Asahi Shimbun
<http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14351623 <http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14351623>>

This makes me wonder two things. (1) What have opposition parties been saying about what changes need to be made, regarding the Olympics or more widely regarding the shortcomings in Japan's systems that have been revealed by the pandemic? (2) Why have opposition parties apparently been able to capitalise so little on the Suga government's pretty woeful performance?

Thoughts and analysis are welcome.

Peter Cave
Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies
Research Postgraduate Director, Modern Languages and Cultures
SALC, University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195
www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/ <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/>
<http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/ <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/>>