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Kan Naoto Battles Reconstruction Efforts

Pranamita Baruah - 8/12/2011

Since March 11 when the triple disaster struck Japan, Japan has been struggling to cope with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. Reconstruction efforts in the disaster-stricken areas also have remained inadequate. The current domestic political turmoil stems from Kan Naoto administration’s failure in achieving these two goals.

Since 2009 when the DPJ came to power with its overwhelming win over the LDP, thereby ending the LDP’s long hold on power for almost five decades, domestic political situation largely remained volatile. During the election campaign, the DPJ leadership came up with a lot of lofty ideas, which they assured to implement after coming to power. However, once elected to power, the party started backpedaling on a lot of issues. This did not go well with the voters.

Since the time Naoto Kan assumed office on June 8, 2010, his self-righteous political style amplified people’s distrust in politics. By the time disaster hit Japan, pressures were already built on him to step down. However, Kan managed to cling to power on the pretext of the necessity of involving in the reconstruction efforts. As Kan failed to adopt concrete measures to deal with the crisis, voices have once again been raised for his ouster. Even some of Kan’s own party colleagues have openly demanded that he steps down.

At present, the Kan administration is faced with two major challenges- dealing with the damage of the devastating earthquake and nuclear energy policy. In order to handle those, Kan needs to create a team of hard-working ministers. Unfortunately, the recent resignation of reconstruction minister Ryu Matsumoto after being in office just for nine days and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda’s apparent readiness to resign clearly indicates that the situation is not congenial for Kan’s administration. Factor such as lack of communication within the cabinet on such urgent matters as the restart of nuclear reactors has largely contributed to Kan’s increasing unpopularity.

So far, Kan’s scheme to woo the opposition party’s cooperation has failed. The opposition LDP is up in the arms with Kan’s appointment of Kazuyuki Hamada, an LDP member in the Upper House, as parliamentary secretary for internal affairs and communications. Many members of the LDP have considered it as the ruling party’s ‘foul play’ and ‘declaration of war (on the LDP)’. They further claimed that Hamada’s appointment was a direct challenge to the efforts to form a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties.

Although pressure has been built on Kan to quit in the last few months, only on June 28, he finally spelled out the three conditions for his resignation-the enactment of second supplementary budget, a bill on issuing special government bonds, and concerning renewable energy. The passage of the second supplementary budget will help provide for the distribution of dosimeters for children and the construction of ice-making facilities in disaster-stricken areas to help the fishermen in resuming their operations. Legislation on special government bonds is essential for Japan to finance the reconstruction work in the disaster affected areas.

With the increasing emphasis on green energy, even the proponents of nuclear energy will find it hard not to support switch to renewables like solar and wind power generation. Therefore, Kan’s conditions to quit after the bills are passed may be reasonable. However, as the Diet functioning remains stalled even after it was decided on June 22 to extend the current session by 70 days, it remains uncertain if any of these bills will become law.

At present, it is important for both ruling and opposition parties to join hands together to address the pressing issues that the country confronts now. Unfortunately, the LDP has made Kan as the target of attack. It would be better if the LDP leadership leaves aside its anti-Kan stance and starts deliberations on a bill concerning a nuclear damage compensation support organization facilitating the payment of compensation to disaster victims. The party should focus more on the larger national interests and not waste its energy on trivial matters.

It is necessary for the LDP to regain the trust of the public. By stalling Diet deliberation, the LDP is damaging its own public image. The party now should no longer insist on Kan’s resignation. Unfortunately Kan himself is losing the trust of his own party men. Slump in popularity may as well precipitate Kan’s resignation sooner than expected. According to a recent poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun, 66% sensed ‘stagnation in politics’, 72 % said Kan should step down either ‘as soon as possible’ or ‘by the end of August’.

The Reconstruction Design Council headed by Makoto Iokibe has put forward its proposals for rebuilding the disaster-stricken areas. Iokibe, who currently serves as the President of National Defense Academy of Japan, has urged the government to act ‘sincerely and promptly’ on panel’s proposals. Unfortunately uncertainty about the fate of Kan administration is affecting its ability to establish and carry out concrete reconstruction policies. Voices have already been raised within DPJ, even by some of his Cabinet colleagues, that the third supplementary budget for reconstruction should be formulated by a new prime minister. While the government has proposed to raise the consumption tax rate as a way to secure financial resources for reconstruction to distribute fairly among all people in the country, some Cabinet members are opposed to the idea as such a step would mean disaster victims too have to share that burden.

The Reconstruction Design Council has called for the establishment of special zones where certain regulations would be eased and tax breaks offered. However, this approach too has not been received favourably by some Cabinet members. His eroding political clout seems to have deterred Kan from uniting the Cabinet members and taking certain concrete steps to help the disaster victims. So far, his clinging to power in the most “un-Japanese” way has only prolonged the confusion and prevented quick-fix measures to address the reconstruction efforts.