...in what amounts to a crushing defeat

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/30/AR2009083000854.html?hpid=topnews

The highlights:

-Japan's LDP has been in power for over a half-century; in the recent election, they just got pretty much destroyed over the last 10 years of Japan's sluggish economy. (Wherein, incidentally, their response has been zero-to-negative effective interest rates, zombie banks not allowed to fail, and a massive expenditure on public works projects. Hmm, I wonder where I've been hearing this one recently?)
-The major impliciations for the U.S. are a more assertive foreign policy less centered upon dependence on the U.S. - such as subsidizing our military bases and going along with whatever we do.

[Edited on August 30, 2009 at 2:23 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2009 2:22:19 PM

There's nothing surprising about this. This is only a slightly more severe repeat of what happened for the upper house election maybe 2 years ago. The polls showed this exact thing happening.

One of the few things that was a surprise was that it rained on election day actually. It was predicted that the weather would be good and they would have a large turnout, but then it rained, and turnout was actually a little lower than 2005. Judging by the polls versus outcome, though, it appears to not have affected anything in the end.

Say hello to Japan's new Prime Minister - Yukio Hatoyama.

8/30/2009 5:19:11 PM

Quote :

"There's nothing surprising about this."

Surprising in that polls were predicting this to occur leading up to the election, no. Surprising in that it's a fairly dramatic shift in the dynamics of what have effectively been a one-to-one-and-a-half party state for a half-century, I'd say yes.

8/30/2009 5:52:21 PM

yes, it's surprising on a larger scale, which I might just call 'significant'. No matter how much people predicted it, it's a very basic shift in how Japan will do things from now on. Even in campaign ads, the DPJ effectively compared this election to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the election of president Obama.

Very significant indeed. Relative to Japanese historic events, some have compared this to the fall of the Bakufu, when the 250 year Tokugawa period came to an end. But both then and now, there has been plenty leading up to the event itself. The problems were apparent with the LDP from pretty much the start, but a roaring economy kept it well entrenched in place. Even the LDP 'loosing power' is completely precedented. But every time it lost an election before, it didn't come along with a concerted opposition winning a majority (or even a plurality for the case of the lower house). The last 20 years has been the most rocky for the LDP. Several time before in the LDP's history, Japan has seemed on the verge of a monumental shift in politics, but this is finally just the last straw.

These are my top blogs on Japan politics. Their word is much less fallible than mine.
http://www.observingjapan.com/
http://www.transpacificradio.com/

8/30/2009 8:11:15 PM

so this means more tentacle rape porn or less tentacle rape porn?

8/30/2009 9:16:26 PM

The DPJ is said to be anti-big serious business and in favor of social welfare that free market advocates and conservatives opposed. The leader himself has expressed in editorials that he's skeptical of globalization and the free market.

So I would say more amateur tentacle rape porn, but possibly less aggregate quality from the big studios as the cost of cheap labor in Japan increases.

8/30/2009 10:01:11 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILCZGMXmVac

8/30/2009 10:01:47 PM

[Epic Fail]

8/30/2009 10:34:34 PM

"Japanese opposition set for victory; PM quits as party head"
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/30/japan.elections/index.html

Useless, they both have democratic party in their names, how am I to know which one to blindly pull for?

Quote :

" In Washington, the White House issued a statement Sunday saying that U.S. President Barack Obama looks forward to "working closely" with the new Japanese prime minister. "We are confident that the strong U.S.-Japan Alliance and the close partnership between our two countries will continue to flourish under the leadership of the next government in Tokyo," the White House statement said. Hatoyama, who has been touting an Obama-style message of change, was mobbed at street rallies by supporters during the campaign -- the kind of support the opposition has never seen before. He pledged to raise the minimum wage and discourage hiring through agencies or on temporary contracts."

At least they found an Obama angle to take on the story, how else would we Americans relate to it?

8/30/2009 10:46:06 PM

From what I've been hearing, the DPJ is a big tent with muddled message that doesn't differ substantially from the LDP. It's also been suggested that the shift was so massive that, coupled with the consensus-driven nature of Japanese politics, they may have just traded one single-party regime for another.

8/30/2009 11:01:35 PM

^ reminds me of election 2008

[Edited on August 30, 2009 at 11:21 PM. Reason : lol]

8/30/2009 11:21:13 PM

^^ IMO, the main reason you can't tell a difference is because you're used to American political stances. The Japanese have always voted on different issues. They may appear subtle from an Western political perspective, but they're very significant.

Politicians there don't often take stances on say, abortion. It's not a big contention point. But if you look at a map of the world by public debt, for instance, you may notice that the Japanese government is possibly the most indebted in the world. And while I think WE should be voting for fiscal responsibility more, the Japanese already do.

But how can someone run on a platform like that? you might say. After all, fiscal responsibility is a matter of proving that you can do it. Well, strong in Japanese memory is when the LDP 'lost' retirement account records. For more examples of blatant financial mismanagement of the nation by the LDP, see Dr. Steve's OP.

Also, keep in mind that Japan has a different voting system. They have no presidential election like us, but they vote for both a district representative and a party for the proportional representation. This is a non-trivial system, but suffice it to say that 180 of the seats are determined by people voting for parties, and then the seats are distributed amongst a list of representatives that the party appointed. Thus Japan politicians have an imperative to choose a strong political party (or make one). This is one reason that the LDP itself was never cohesive (people just wanted to be on their ticket but didn't agree with most of what the party did)

Here is what defines the DPJ:

http://ikjeld.com/news/146/dpj-manifesto

Quote :

"1. The end of wasteful spending 2. Child-rearing and education 3. Pensions and medical care 4. Regional sovereignty 5. Employment and the economy"

I know this is cryptic, but in regards to the first point, the DPJ has a different internal structure and actually a chance of standing up to the bureaucracy. The LDP is practically the same thing as the bureaucracy. The DPJ has the advantage of being new.

Number 2: they will literally hand out an allowance to every family with kids. Why? Because Japan has a shortage of kids. Number 3 seems like just an attack on the LDP to me. Number 4 is also significant since they plan to hand over more power to local authority. See "state's rights" in US history. For 5, they actually have hopes of eliminating temporary employment, this is labor reform in a nutshell. And God knows Japan needs it.

Politicians in the party differ on many issues, but you have little to no ground to be in the party and disagree on the 5 points above. Why? Because it's in the manifesto.

That said, they might go back to nearly a one party system. The LDP is near its demise. If they break up (which is entirely possible), then the tables will be reversed and the DPJ can easily evolve into what the LDP was. But for now, the DPJ is young. The LDP had problems that came from being an old party. Who knows what will happen in the coming decades, but for now, this is clear change for the nation.

[Edited on August 31, 2009 at 10:41 AM. Reason : ]

8/31/2009 10:40:04 AM

Don't worry, guys, the transition of power will not restrict the flow of crazy out of Japan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5812DV20090902

The new first lady says that when she went to sleep her soul rode a UFO to Venus, which she described as "very beautiful" and "really green."

9/3/2009 5:25:57 PM

People here are going nuts.

I think even though the polls predicted this no one believed the people answering the polls were actually going to show up to vote

9/3/2009 7:26:53 PM

Quote :

"Number 2: they will literally hand out an allowance to every family with kids. "

You know Japan already does that right?

9/3/2009 7:30:20 PM

Quote :

"The party had become a profoundly unpopular, but deeply entrenched, governing force that so feared it would be swept from power that it had put off a national election for nearly three years. "

Are you paying attention democrats?

9/3/2009 9:54:29 PM

I wonder what the campaign rallys are like in japan?

9/3/2009 10:05:35 PM

^ Nothing like America

Every election they had these assholes drive around in big white fans plastered with signs for the campaign. They have loudspeakers attached to the van and they drive around neighborhoods blasting a message from the guy running or his supporters. "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME! MY NAME IS TANAKA AND I AM RUNNING FOR MAYOR! I KNOW IT'S A BOTHER BUT PLEASE GO TO THE POLLS TO VOTE FOR ME! THANK YOU!" And inside the van are a bunch of people dressed in the official color of the campaign waving at people on the street. They do this from about 5am (fuckers ) to about 11pm (fuckers ).

Then you have the guys who stand in front of the train station with the loudspeaker. They'll stand there talking about how you should vote for this guy because he's super serious and blah blah blah, while a bunch of other people bombard you as you enter the station with pamphlets about the guy and his campaign. I don't mind them so much except when I have a long wait for my train and have to listen to them screaming into the loudspeaker for a long time.

9/5/2009 6:54:37 PM

saw a report about the dude's wife on cnn

- she says she has met tom cruise in a past life as tom cruise was japanese in his past life

- she "eats the sun" with her husband, and she showed how she does it. you know how the chi/jap people eat soup really fast with their chopsticks going crazy fast... now imagine the chopsticks pointed at a 45 degree angle towards the sky and being worked crazy fast and the head bobbing up and down as if chunks of the sun are being thrown at it and swallowed ... you just gotta watch it

- and she has written a spiritual cookbook... the recipes increase your spirituality

wow, a total lunatic.

9/5/2009 8:28:40 PM

Well she was in Takarazuka, what do you expect?

9/5/2009 9:17:52 PM

ehhhh, japan's going to have to sneak attack us again before we give a shit about what goes on there

9/6/2009 2:28:13 AM

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/09/04/lah.japan.1st.lady.ufo.cnn

9/6/2009 8:37:40 AM