Japan Press Weekly

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2011 January 5 - 11 [POLITICS]

PM shows ‘so-what’ attitude regarding his administration

Prime Minister Kan Naoto in his New Year speech on January 4 said that he wants to make this year the first year to truly open Japan to other countries, create a society with a minimum level of unhappiness, and carry out policies to improve the situation.

However, Kan’s real intention with these three policies is to join the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement for free trade, increase the consumption tax rate, and enforce the relocation of the U.S. Futenma Base within Okinawa. What Kan’s speech showed is a “so-what” attitude regarding his mal-administration and his intent to go forward with policies that mimic the former Liberal Democratic-Komei government.

Kan has no vision

Kan referred to the government’s plan to rebuild Japan’s agriculture, provide job opportunities to young people, support families raising children, and reduce burdens caused by U.S. military bases in Okinawa. However, he gave no concrete examples of how he intends to accomplish this. In contrast, he clearly showed his intention to support moves to increase the consumption tax ostensibly to increase funds for social welfare programs. He also said that he will make a final decision in June about whether or not to participate in the TPP negotiations.

While citing financial difficulties, the Kan administration in its FY 2011 draft budget on the one hand is seeking to decrease corporate taxes by 5% and maintain the five trillion yen military budget which includes the so-called “sympathy budget” for U.S. forces in Japan, but at the same time the administration is proposing a consumption tax hike which will impose heavier financial burdens onto the public, especially low-income earners. The Kan administration’s move is an ultimate act of subservience to Japanese business circles and the United States.

Kan ignores people

The TPP is an agreement calling for the elimination of tariffs on all imported goods including but not limited to agricultural products and is aimed at achieving the total liberalization of the market, including the service and the labor markets. More and more people are now opposing the TPP because it will deal a heavy blow to Japan’s agriculture, local economies, and employment opportunities as well as to people’s livelihoods. In defiance of the public opposition, the Kan government consistently aspires to its full participation in the TPP negotiations which the United States and Japan’s business world are eager to conclude. The government’s attitude is blatant proof of its loyalty to the United States and business interests.

When an Okinawan local daily newspaper reporter asked Kan, “Do you consider the situation of Okinawa, where U.S. bases are concentrated, as unreasonable?”, Kan replied, “Yes, I think so.” However, he expressed no willingness to change his position of supporting the construction of a new base in the Henoko district of Nago City as an alternative to the Futenma base based on the 2010 May Japan-U.S. agreement.

If Kan admits that Okinawa’s situation of hosting so many U.S. military bases is unreasonable, he should listen to Okinawan people’s consensus of opposition to the new base construction within the prefecture and should take a position supporting the removal of the Futenma base.

Okinawa Times in its editorial of January 4 stated that the transfer of the Futenma base to somewhere within the prefecture is “just illogical” and leads to a “denial of democracy.”

Kan’s policies will only pave the way to a dead-end politics which allows injustice to prevail and the creation of a society with a maximum level of unhappiness.