March 25, 2013

The mayor of a small town at the southern end on Kagoshima’s southern island of Tanegashima is opposing Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, contrary to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Akahata on March 25 carried an interview with Kajiwara Hironori, the mayor of Minamitane Town, who used to be a secretary of an influential Liberal Democratic Party politician.

The excerpts of his interview are as follows:

Japan’s participation in the TPP negotiations will pave the road to “national ruin” selling off not only Japan’s agriculture but the whole of Japan to the United States, including food safety, healthcare, and insurance services.

I served as a secretary of Yamanaka Sadanori for 16 years, who was known as “the master” of the Liberal Democratic Party Research Commission on Tax System and held ministerial posts such as a finance minister and director general of the Defense Agency.

The LDP is misleading the general public by asserting that “We will protect five items of key farm products” and that “If they are not protected, we won’t hesitate to drop out of the talks.” This is the same old game the LDP has always played to stifle opponents like the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) and the National Confederation of Organizations of Farmers and Agricultural Movement (Noseiren, the JA political body).

The TPP pact has principles of “zero tariffs for all items”. The TPP will not allow only Japan to be given special treatment or to withdraw from certain obligations.

Bowing to U.S. pressure, successive LDP governments liberalized imports of beef, oranges, and even rice. They have handed over Japanese agricultural markets one after another, abandoning “national interests”.

Tanegashima is an island of agriculture and tourism. The island is located in areas susceptible to typhoons. So, disaster-resistant sugar cane and sweet potato are our primary produce. Production of these products contributes to creating jobs and has a significant ripple effect on our local economy. TPP participation will destroy the production of those two products with cheap foreign imports.

Including stockbreeding and rice growing, Minamitane Town will suffer an annual loss of four billion yen in total. The island’s agriculture and related industries will be destroyed. The island will have to fight for its very crucial stage of the survival.

I have eagerly worked for improvements in the island’s healthcare services.

The TPP will impose “American-style rules” also on the medical sector, urging dissolution of Japan’s universal healthcare system, introduction of mixed medical services, and the entry of for-profit enterprises. All of this will force hospitals to leave the island, aggravating a medical crisis on the island.

We islanders have no other option than to work to block Japan from joining the TPP.