Comment by theanphibian

April 14, 2008 @ 1:47 am

I listened to that interview. He is very right in everything he said, but the listener needs to keep in mind that Mr. Harris’s experience is working for an DPJ politician.

I don’t think this affects his impartiality, however, it is unsurprising that his position is favorable to the DPJ.

Comment by MTC

April 14, 2008 @ 12:34 pm

Gentlemen -

A slight slip. The Hashimoto-Obuchi transition was the direct result of the 1998 House of Councillors election. Hashimoto resigned to take responsibility for the unexpectedly large number of lost seats.

Comment by Ken Worsley

April 14, 2008 @ 1:06 pm

MTC,

I don’t think it’s a slip. I meant that there was no lower house election in 1998, when Hashimoto stepped down for Obuchi. The point was meant to be that Fukuda can be replaced without there being a lower house election, so there’s probably no need right now to speculate on whether or not such an election would be called, since it’s clearly not in the LDP’s best interest to hold an election right now.

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

April 14, 2008 @ 9:47 pm

To Theanphibian:

I was actually a little surprised to hear how pro-DPJ Tobias sounded, considering he was kind of hard on them when he appeared on Seijigiri (or at least less biased toward them than I expected) and that he seemed to view them through clear lenses the few times I’ve spoken with him.
That said, his lean toward the DPJ in that interview is, as you said, unsurprising not only because he word for a DPJ member, but also because he seems to have little patience with political backscratching and murkiness, which are the only really finely honed skills the LDP has shown.

Comment by theanphibian

April 21, 2008 @ 8:38 am

lol, political backscratching.

But from a broad perspective, I do understand the point that both Tobias and you guys were making, and it’s not completely 100% unfavorable to the LDP. The big idea here is that we for the first time have genuine competition, and the people like it that way (regardless of what some of the mass media have to say). Half of the point is that the LDP itself will have reform itself to become less corrupt and better serving to their constituents. I don’t know if we have any reason to say they’re doing that right now, but it should happen eventually. Right? Maybe…

Comment by Garrett DeOrio

April 21, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

Agreed. I think it’s fair to talk of a reformist/dinosaur split in the LDP, as many people do, if the reformists get the upper hand, the LDP could very well see its popularity rise. In that case, the only thing tat would worry me would be if the LDP regained enough popularity to allow it to start running the only game in town again. Even if the LDP gets on the right track, having to deal with a viable opponent will keep them honest and be good for the country.

Comment by Mami

April 22, 2008 @ 7:23 am

Determination and practice are the most important thing for politics.
Now,in Japan,stagnation of policy is standing out.
That condition brought the decrease in the approval rating of the prime minister, Fukuda Yasuo.
We nation have to think and ascertain whether present politics especially LDP is good for Japan.

Mami Murata

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