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Tough Challenges of Naoto Kan

Pranamita Baruah - 7/18/2010

On June 2, Yukio Hatoyama, the ninety third Prime Minister of Japan, decided to step down while taking full responsibility for his failure in relocating the Futenma base outside Okinawa and the continued political fund scandals that dogged the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration for months. DPJ General Secretary and party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa also opted to resign from his post due to his recent embroilment in political fund scandal. Of late, Hatoyama had come to be seen as a liability by most of his party colleagues. Those up for re-election to the Upper House in July this year were particularly vocal in calling for the Hatoyama’s ouster as they believed that the party had no chance of doing well if he remained at the helm of party affairs. Recent surveys also indicated that the soaring public approval rate which was around 72 percent at the time of DPJ’s historic landslide victory against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) went down drastically to 19.1 percent within eight months of the DPJ rule.

Hatoyama’s sheer immaturity in handling the Futenma base relocation issue primarily brought his debacle. He ineptly set an end-of-May deadline to resolve the long drawn issue by transferring the base outside Okinawa prefecture without having any concrete idea about how to go about it. To the utter disappointment of the Okinawans and voters nationwide, instead of fulfilling his earlier promise, Hatoyama later on agreed to relocate the Futenma base within the same prefecture to keep intact the 2006 Japan-US pact. The dismissal of consumer affairs minister and Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Mizuho Fukushima, due to her opposition to the Futenma decision that led to her party’s bolting from the tripartite coalition government, worsened the matter further.

Hatoyama’s terms of office were marked by a few other broken promises and backpedaling as well. During his farewell speech, he admitted his failure in fulfilling one of his electoral pledges of bringing an end to Japan’s post war security dependence on the US. Hatoyama administration also failed in removing a provisional gas tax that his party had promised to do earlier. The promise of making expressways toll-free will also probably go out of the window soon. Such policy failures unfortunately overshadowed some of the significant achievements of Hatoyama administration, such as, introduction of policies like monthly allowance of 13,000 yen per child, irrespective of the family’s income size, the measure to make public high-schools tuition-free, etc.

Nevertheless, Hatoyama’s hasty resignation might deepen the trouble for the country’s current fragile economic condition. Due to impending cabinet reshuffle, some of the important fiscal and financial policies, including the economic growth strategy and midterm fiscal framework might get affected. Uncertainties also seem to loom large over the long term outcome of Hatoyama policies like child allowance and waiver of high school tuition.

Under the circumstance, newly elected DPJ president and Japanese premier Naoto Kan has a challenging job ahead. He has already announced to carry the torch passed on by his predecessor while emphasizing on the following priority areas: the promotion of regional autonomy, the establishment of a ‘new public service’ system, the formation of East Asia community and curbing of global warming. Still, regaining public trust would be his administration’s first and foremost priority prior to the Upper House election.

According to two separate polls recently conducted by two major Japanese dailies- the Ashahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, about 60 percent people were optimistic about new Prime Minister Kan. 33 percent were willing to continue their support towards the ruling DPJ in the July election. It indicates an increase from 28 percent in the previous poll conducted shortly after Hatoyama’s announcement to quit. Recent poll result also indicates that support for the ruling party has been higher than 17 percent for the main opposition-LDP.

Although the poll results indicate an optimistic picture for Kan administration, to have a lasting tenure in office, the new Prime Minister has to take care of certain basic things, which were conspicuously absent during Hatoyama’s premiership. Besides restructuring the country’s economy and finances, he needs to take simultaneous steps in strengthening social welfare system. Kan also has to portray Japan as a responsible stakeholder in the international community. The new premier also needs to preserve cabinet unity and ensure sufficient coordination between himself and his cabinet colleagues so that there is no divergence, at least in the public statements, made by his cabinet colleagues on sensitive issues. Kan must also promote transparency in policy making process. Above all, he must present a convincing picture of future Japan. Kan also must take up certain ideal yet achievable promises left unfinished by Hatoama administration, such as the introduction of a ‘concept of new public service’, the empowerment of local governments and efforts towards reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions. (801 words)