No vision for the future of Japan: Shii comments on Hatoyama policy speech

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

No vision for the future of Japan: Shii comments on Hatoyama policy speech

Asked by reporters to comment on the Hatoyama policy speech, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said, “He has failed to show concrete ways to protect people’s livelihoods from the present economic crisis and solve the issue of the Futenma base in Okinawa.”

“A policy speech is something that should put forward concrete policies how to carry out the demands of the general public, not something that shows to the public the prime minister’s aspirations,” Shii said.

Referring to the fact that Hatoyama mentioned nothing about DPJ Secretary General Ozawa’s involvement in a scandal over land purchase, Shii stated, “I feel that that’s strange. He has given no response to the question the people want him to answer and this was characteristic of his speech today.”

“He has mentioned some policies in common with the JCP, such as making high schools tuition-free. That’s what the JCP has long called for. However, he fell short of coming up with a vision on the future of Japan as a whole in both internal and foreign affairs,” Shii stated.

Hatoyama in his policy speech used Mahatma Gandhi’s phrase, “wealth without work,” and the government itself recognizes in its “growth strategy paper” that only a handful of large corporations are enjoying a further concentration of wealth.

Shii said that he will take up this issue in the House of Representatives plenary session and subsequent Budget Committee meetings by stating, “Redistributing this wealth to general society will be a key to boosting the economy.”

- Akahata, January 30, 2010