Live

Why are many Japanese turned off by politics?

The prevailing attitude amongst many young Japanese runs along the lines of “none of the parties represent what I want, so why should I vote for any of them?”

By 6 min read 3

As I write this article, I am sifting through some of the results of the local elections held recently here in Japan. From my own personal viewpoint, Osaka’s political landscape appears to be largely unchanged, with Toru Hashimoto’s One Japan Party remaining the largest party in the local assembly.

Nationwide, the elections seem to be a glowing endorsement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic revitalization initiatives, dubbed “Abenomics” by the media, with candidates loyal to his governing Liberal Democratic Party winning all 10 of the nationwide gubernatorial contests.

At least, it seems like a glowing endorsement, until you look at the turnout. At the time of writing the exact figure is unconfirmed, but it is unlikely the turnout for this debate will go much beyond 40%. In other words, Mr Abe leads Japan not because the majority support him, but because more than 6 out of 10 voters have neither the time, energy nor inclination to oppose him.

So why is it that in a country with such a high level of education, literacy and mass media that the Japanese people should be so disenchanted with the political process?

There are a number of reasons for this.

First of all there is a lack of real choice.

nude-politican

For most of the last 70 years, with the only exception being the government of the Democratic Party of Japan from 2009 to 2012, the Liberal Democratic Party has been the ruling party of Japan’s government. Probably best described as a “right of centre” party, though by no means as extreme as certain factions of the Republican Party in the US, the party is nonetheless conservative in its outlook and has retained an at times fractious relationship with neighbouring nations like China and South Korea.

The LDP’s main rival these days is the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). However, the DPJ itself was borne out of a splinter group of former LDP lawmakers and whilst it defines itself as being to the political left of the LDP, the reality is that there aren’t that many differences between the two.

A suitable comparison could perhaps be the UK parliament, where the Labour Party, traditionally a party of the left, with socialist origins, has in recent years lurched to the right in order to woo voters from their main rivals the Conservative Party. The result is that voters of a left wing persuasion in the UK really don’t have any viable voting options. The same could be said of Japan.

The Japanese Communist Party is, somewhat predictably the most left wing of the parties in the Japanese parliament, however despite making inroads in recent years, they remain, at best, a party on the political fringes.

Of course, it’s not only left-wing voters who feel alienated by the current make-up of Japan’s parliament. Today, the youth of Japan are perhaps the single most disenfranchised demographic amongst Japan’s voters. The fact is, in Japan now, there are more middle-aged and older people than there are young people. Older people are also far more likely to vote.

Therefore, it is perhaps to be expected that parties like the LDP and DPJ take a pragmatic approach in ensuring that the bulk of the policies in their manifestos are of benefit to, or at least do not impede, the interests of older people, almost always at the expense of the young.

Hence, the prevailing attitude amongst many young Japanese runs along the lines of “none of the parties represent what I want, so why should I vote for any of them?”

Women could also be forgiven for feeling somewhat alienated from Japan’s political process. Whilst, to their credit, the Abe administration has made some efforts to include more female lawmakers in positions of power, the reality is that the massive majority of Japanese politicians are middle-aged men, from privileged families, who often display outmoded, almost misogynistic attitudes towards women.

There was the disheartening case last year of a female city councillor, Ayaka Shiomura, who when addressing the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on the issue of getting women to stay in the work force was heckled by several other assembly members. Among the insults were the likes of: “Can’t you have a child?” and “Why don’t you hurry up and get married?”
In the end, despite TV evidence clearly showing several male colleagues abusing Ms Shiomura during her speech, only one accepted responsibility, Akihiro Suzuki.

Despite being made to publicly apologize to Ms Shiomura, Mr Suzuki retained his position in the assembly. So perhaps it’s understandable that a large portion of women in Japan feel that politics doesn’t really speak for them.

With so many demoralized groups amongst the electorate, what can be done to revitalize Japan’s interest in politics?
Of course, the Australian model of mandatory voting could be adopted, but critics of this system argue that the right to abstain from voting is as fundamental a facet of democracy as the right to vote itself. In other words, forcing people to vote removes the right to show your disapproval by not voting for any of the candidates.

Perhaps my native Scotland could offer a solution. Last September’s vote on Scotland’s potential independence from the UK drew a turnout close to 90%, one of the highest ever recorded in UK modern parliamentary history. One of the most important aspects of the campaigns both for and against independence was the way both the Yes and No camps utilized social media to reach out to potential voters.

Twitter, Facebook and various blogs and online journals became rallying points for both sides. In particular, this engaged the young people of Scotland like never before. TV debates in which the leaders of the Yes and No campaigns had the ability to go head to head with each other also further inspired voters. These passionate debates provoked discussion and further debate in schools and workplaces up and down the country.

But perhaps that is another problem for Japan. Passionate debate doesn’t really mesh well with the Japanese concept of “Tatemae” and their natural tendency to do anything possible to avoid direct confrontation. Debates need to be had, but most Japanese shy away from such things. In all honesty, I can’t really see a situation where Japan would follow the lead of the UK and the US and have open, public, leadership debates.

Like all things in Japan, change is coming, but at a snail’s pace. In the meantime the government has a choice. Either they can continue to delude themselves that a 30-something percent turnout gives them a genuine democratic mandate, or they can finally get off their rapidly ageing backsides and do something about Japan’s obviously broken democracy.

The elderly may preserve Japan’s ruling classes’ power base for now, but the youth are the future of Japan. If the government doesn’t do more to genuinely improve their lives and re-engage them in politics then a rude awakening may just be around the corner. One way or another, there are interesting times ahead.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service

  • Roberto De Luigi says:

    Also in Italy are almost the same thing of Japan and UK: Democratic Party (PD) and Forza Italia are very similar especially on economic issues. A left voter practically haven’t a real alternative.
    “If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it” (Mark Twain)

  • maulinator says:

    The ruling party in Japan is held in place by two subgroups of the Japanese popluace, the farmers and the elderly. The power at the national level is disproportionally held by the “chihou”, the rural areas. And who lives there? The farmers and elderly. These people get the LDP candidates elected to office so why not cater to them? If the LDP thinks that the youth of Japan are going to kick them out of office would it not be in their best interest to keep the youth disinterested in politics? In Japan, it is illegal to advertise on the radio, TV or the internet. The internet in particular is the media choice for the younger generation, so no adtertising keeps the youth uninvolved politically and keeps the status quo in place. Why would the legislators risk any type of behavior to rock the boat?
    In Japan, the education system does not teach politics. At the grade school level in the US it is a requirement to learn about the system of government and the rights of the citizens. In Japan, it is not taught at the level of detail it is in the US. This is also a way to keep the youth uninvolved and is done on purpose. I think that political and social riots of the 60’s taught the government that the youth are a force to be reckoned with if they get their act together, and the best thing to do is keep them focused on anything that is not politics. Cram schools, college admissions tests, getting the right job- the educaiton system is designed by the government to pump out obedient worker bees who do not want to rile up their surroundings. All of these were part of the Japanese culture prior to the 60’s but the focus was clearly intensified after. WHat is interesting is that in the US, where the people are bombarded with politcs on TV and other media, still the overall voter turnout is about 50%. Even the past two elections, with Obama the “first internt President”, the turnout was around 50% on a national level. Why expect Japan to be any better?
    The elderly have nothing to do but to vote, and they want their subsidized life to continue so they have a huge interest in voting and keeping the policy makers that maintian their lifestyle in power. The youth from a fiscal point are funding the old, and while it is obvious, the young will also grow old some day. And some probably think that they want that safety net when they get older. Especially in a crappy economic environment where interest rates are basically zero. While this is certain not sustainable, “it just has to be sustainable until I die- let the next generation deal with the aftermath” This seems to be the mentality of the government and the people in Japan today as a whole.
    The farmers want the subsidies and tariffs in place so that they can keep their farms and livelihood. The government has a policy that Japan shold be self sufficient in terms of food. That an eroding capacity to make food for the people strategically disadvantageous for the country, and it is nto a plociy to keep the farmers employed. The govenrment still subsidizes the farmers as well on top of the protective tariffs. But there are starving kids in Japan to this day (where does all the government purchased food go? HMMMMM). The hypocrisy of what the government is stating is so glaring that it is almost not worth debating.
    Anywway the point is that the government is in power due mainly to two power bases, the elderly and the farmers. The gvoernment knows it and why would they do anything to rock that boat? These people keep them in power, so of course legislature will be written in favor of these people as much as possible. Why involve the youth who are less predictable and might cause some upheaval that is unnecessary for those in power? The current voter distribution, turnout and distrcit organization is ideal of the LDP. Why change anything? Clearly the way it is right now is not going to work forever, but the people in power are comfortable so it is going to be difficult to change. The incumbents are always harder to get out of office as they have more to lose. How to change Japan is a totally different article and way to complex an issue to write in a a simple blog response and involves the country making a lot of hard choices. Something politicians are not wont to do. Fortunately for the time being, Japan is a nation that works in spite of the government not becasue of it.

  • Liam Carrigan says:

    Thanks Jeremy, glad you enjoyed the article.
    The point about the elderly not voting, that’s a controversial one, but I can see where you’re coming from. In Japan in particular such a move would really shake things up politically.
    When I lived in Hong Kong I was also quite concerned about the mental competence of many elderly voters. There were several instances of very old and vulnerable voters being taken to polling stations by pro-Beijing political parties and clearly they had no idea who or what they were voting for.
    As Japan continues to age, I hope the government will put in place procedures to ensure those who are voting remain mentally competent to do so, regardless of their age.

Related

Explore

Start Your Business at Ryozan Park Share Office

Ryozan Park share office in Otsuka is a brand-new workspace that won’t just benefit your business but your social life too.

By 4 min read 1

Explore

Ise Grand Shrine: Japan’s Most Sacred Shrine

Ise Grand Shrine is Japan’s most sacred Shinto shrine and dates back to the 3rd Century. It is considered to be the spiritual home of the Japanese and its national religion Shinto.

By 4 min read 1

Live

All in the Family: The Blessing and Curse of Social Media

While being so connected to family and friends eliminates some of the homesickness and isolation of living abroad, it also has some downfalls.

By 5 min read 1