Saying Sayonara to the "Inscrutable Japan" Theory in the Wake of the Democratic Party's Landslide Victory
KITAMURA Fumio / Journalist
September 18, 2009
On August 30, Japan's general elections ended in a clean sweep for the opposition Democratic Party. Of the 480 seats of the House of Representatives, 308 went to the Democratic Party, while the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a sharp decline from 300 to 119. For the first time in its postwar history, Japan experienced a change of government between two opposing political parties. Over the years, I have made friends with many intelligent foreigners, and through such friendship had learned just how persistent the view of Japan as an "inscrutable country" was in other countries. For this reason, I was relieved by the Democratic Party's landslide victory for it is likely to lead to a considerable correction of this negative stereotype.
Such a sentiment is probably mine alone. No doubt it is connected to my memories of working at the Foreign Press Center (FPC) for eight years from 1988. The FPC offered support and cooperation to foreign media organizations in their coverage of Japan, and as Managing Director, I spent my days conversing with foreign journalists and scholars of Japan. During those years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan was buoyed by its bubble economy. Tongue in cheek statistics describing Japan's total land value to be more than double that of the entire United States gave a boost to the Japanese ego, and opening the Japanese market and controlling exports from Japan were always the central agenda in Japan-U.S. negotiations.
One after another, major Hollywood movie productions and famous landmarks in New York and other places were sold to Japanese capital, fanning the frustration of the proud American people. Against this backdrop, journalists and scholars known in western countries as the "Revisionists" started a phenomenon called "Japan bashing" that spread like bushfire, and soon books with provocative titles such as "Containing Japan" began to line the shelves in U.S. bookstores. Roughly summed up, their logic was that although Japan was an economic superpower its society and culture remained alien to western countries, and since the Japanese themselves cannot be expected to change their own country, pressure must be applied from the outside to open up the Japanese market.
In the aftermath of the bubble economy, "Japan bashing" died out as Japan sunk deeper into its "lost decade" of stagnation. However, the "Inscrutable Japan" theory became deeply rooted in the minds of westerners. Similarly, there was little change in the stereotypical view of the Japanese as a "people with an intrinsic fear of change." The discomforting feeling towards Japanese politics, long dominated by a single party, must have been a major element that gave rise to these images. Despite the numerous political scandals and absurd comments and slips of the tongue uttered by its ministers, the LDP had remained in power for over half a century. Indeed, such a political situation must have been an enigma to western eyes.
LDP domination was founded on a system it built up to distribute the country' expanding wealth among various industries through LDP lawmakers with vested interests in areas such as agriculture, medicine, road construction and education. As long as the Japanese economy remained on the growth curve, the LDP would have been able to maintain its patriarchal dominion and continue setting the political agenda.
However, amid the tide of globalization that followed the end of the Cold War, the doctrine of market competition spread throughout the world, regional alliances such as the European Union were organized, and countries led by China and India began to show rapid economic growth. These were all factors that presented obstacles to Japan's past growth path. Furthermore, as Japan’s transition into an aging society with a low birthrate gathered pace, anxiety mushroomed over diminished employment, worsening plight of the low-income group and despair for the future among younger Japanese.
Nevertheless, the LDP failed to reinvent itself in response to the overwhelming changes out of a sense of inertia and comfort borne of its longtime rule. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party focused its election strategy on formulating and strengthening safety nets for daily livelihood, such as benefits for single-mothers and free education at public schools up to high school. Compared with the LDP, which could not discard its traditional strategy of gathering votes, the Democratic Party campaigned on an election strategy that was in better touch with the sentiments of a people dissatisfied with the present and worried about the future. In other words, the Japanese people had set the agenda for this election.
A multitude of tasks lie ahead of the new government, and it is unclear whether they can deliver on their promises to voters. However, one thing is clear. Japanese voters have chosen a way out of LDP domination, making Japan a "normal country" and creating an effective argument for refuting the "Inscrutable Japan" theory. One day, voters may turn their back on a Democratic Party-led government. They can then choose another government. That is what parliamentary democracy is all about. In any case, I for one am enjoying a moment of liberation from frustration pent up over so many years.
The writer is a former Professor of Shukutoku University and former London Bureau Chief and Senior Editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Such a sentiment is probably mine alone. No doubt it is connected to my memories of working at the Foreign Press Center (FPC) for eight years from 1988. The FPC offered support and cooperation to foreign media organizations in their coverage of Japan, and as Managing Director, I spent my days conversing with foreign journalists and scholars of Japan. During those years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan was buoyed by its bubble economy. Tongue in cheek statistics describing Japan's total land value to be more than double that of the entire United States gave a boost to the Japanese ego, and opening the Japanese market and controlling exports from Japan were always the central agenda in Japan-U.S. negotiations.
One after another, major Hollywood movie productions and famous landmarks in New York and other places were sold to Japanese capital, fanning the frustration of the proud American people. Against this backdrop, journalists and scholars known in western countries as the "Revisionists" started a phenomenon called "Japan bashing" that spread like bushfire, and soon books with provocative titles such as "Containing Japan" began to line the shelves in U.S. bookstores. Roughly summed up, their logic was that although Japan was an economic superpower its society and culture remained alien to western countries, and since the Japanese themselves cannot be expected to change their own country, pressure must be applied from the outside to open up the Japanese market.
In the aftermath of the bubble economy, "Japan bashing" died out as Japan sunk deeper into its "lost decade" of stagnation. However, the "Inscrutable Japan" theory became deeply rooted in the minds of westerners. Similarly, there was little change in the stereotypical view of the Japanese as a "people with an intrinsic fear of change." The discomforting feeling towards Japanese politics, long dominated by a single party, must have been a major element that gave rise to these images. Despite the numerous political scandals and absurd comments and slips of the tongue uttered by its ministers, the LDP had remained in power for over half a century. Indeed, such a political situation must have been an enigma to western eyes.
LDP domination was founded on a system it built up to distribute the country' expanding wealth among various industries through LDP lawmakers with vested interests in areas such as agriculture, medicine, road construction and education. As long as the Japanese economy remained on the growth curve, the LDP would have been able to maintain its patriarchal dominion and continue setting the political agenda.
However, amid the tide of globalization that followed the end of the Cold War, the doctrine of market competition spread throughout the world, regional alliances such as the European Union were organized, and countries led by China and India began to show rapid economic growth. These were all factors that presented obstacles to Japan's past growth path. Furthermore, as Japan’s transition into an aging society with a low birthrate gathered pace, anxiety mushroomed over diminished employment, worsening plight of the low-income group and despair for the future among younger Japanese.
Nevertheless, the LDP failed to reinvent itself in response to the overwhelming changes out of a sense of inertia and comfort borne of its longtime rule. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party focused its election strategy on formulating and strengthening safety nets for daily livelihood, such as benefits for single-mothers and free education at public schools up to high school. Compared with the LDP, which could not discard its traditional strategy of gathering votes, the Democratic Party campaigned on an election strategy that was in better touch with the sentiments of a people dissatisfied with the present and worried about the future. In other words, the Japanese people had set the agenda for this election.
A multitude of tasks lie ahead of the new government, and it is unclear whether they can deliver on their promises to voters. However, one thing is clear. Japanese voters have chosen a way out of LDP domination, making Japan a "normal country" and creating an effective argument for refuting the "Inscrutable Japan" theory. One day, voters may turn their back on a Democratic Party-led government. They can then choose another government. That is what parliamentary democracy is all about. In any case, I for one am enjoying a moment of liberation from frustration pent up over so many years.
The writer is a former Professor of Shukutoku University and former London Bureau Chief and Senior Editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
民主党大勝－サヨウナラ「不可解な日本」論
北村文夫 / ジャーナリスト
2009年 9月 18日
８月３０日の衆議院選挙は、それまでの野党民主党の完勝に終わった。民主党が衆院４８０議席のうち３０８議席を獲得する一方で、与党自民党は衆院解散前の３００議席から１１９議席へと激減した。戦後の日本政治で初めて政党間の政権交代が実現したのである。私は長年にわたり知性豊かな多くの外国人と親しくしてきたが、この交友関係から外国で「日本は不可解な国」という見方が根強いことを知らされてきた。それだけに民主党圧勝は、「ネガティブな日本イメージを多分に修正してくれるだろう」という安堵感を私に抱かせる。
この感懷はおそらく個人的なものだろう。そうした思いに浸るのは、１９８８年から８年間、（財）フォーリン・プレスセンター（ＦＰＣ）で働いたころの記憶と無縁ではあるまい。ＦＰＣの仕事は日本取材の外国メディアへの支援や協力であり、ＦＰＣ専務理事だった私も外国人のジャーナリストや日本研究者とのおしゃべりに明け暮れする日々を過ごした。おりしも８０年代末から９０年代初めにかけ、日本はバブル景気に浮かれていた。「日本全体の地価は米国全体の地価の２倍以上」といったジョークまじりの統計数字が日本人の自尊心をくすぐり、日米交渉ではいつも日本市場の対外開放や日本からの輸出規制が主要議題になった。
ハリウッドのメージャー映画産業や、ニューヨークなどの名門ビルが次々に日本資本に買収され、誇り高い米国人は欲求不満を募らせていた。そんな状況の中で欧米諸国では「修正日本論者（リビジョニスト）」と呼ばれるジャーナリストや学者による「日本叩き」現象が野火のように広がり、「日本封じ込め」なる挑戦的タイトルの本が米国の書店に並び出した。彼らの論法を大ざっぱに要約すれば、「日本は経済大国だが、社会的、文化的には欧米諸国とは異質な国である」、「日本人による日本改革が期待できない以上、日本市場の対外開放には外圧が必要だ」ということだった。
バブル経済崩壊で日本が「失われた１０年間」の低迷状態に落ち込むにつれ、日本叩き現象は自然消滅の形で姿を消した。しかし「日本異質論」の方は欧米人の脳裏にしっかり刻み込まれた。「日本人が持つ変革への恐怖心」というステレオタイプの日本人像もさして変化しなかった。こうした日本イメージを生む大きな要素は、政権交代なき日本政治への違和感だったはずだ。いくたのスキャンダルや政権閣僚の妄言、失言にもかかわらず、自民党は過去半世紀以上も支配政党の座に居座っていた。欧米諸国から見れば、まさに不可解な政治状況だった。
自民党支配力の源泉は、拡大する富を自民党の族議員（農業族、医療族、道路族、文教族など）を通し、各種業界に分配するシステムを作り上げてきたことだ。日本経済が成長カーブをたどる限り、自民党はこうした家父長型支配を続け、政治の課題（アジェンダ）決定の主導権を保てたことだろう。
しかし東西冷戦終結に伴うグローバル化潮流のもと、市場競争原理が世界的規模で拡大し、世界各地で欧州連合（ＥＵ）など地域連合が形成され、中国やインドなどが急速な経済成長を遂げだした。いずれもが日本経済のかつての成長路線への阻害要因となるものだった。また日本社会が急スピードで少子高齢化に移行するにつれ、雇用縮小、低所得層のさらなる貧困化、若年層の将来への希望の喪失などの不安がとめどもなく拡大してきた。家父長型政治の根幹が揺らぎ出した。
だが長年の政権支配の惰性と安逸感から、自民党は巨大な変化に対応する自己変革を怠ってきた。他方で民主党は選挙戦略を、母子家庭への給付金、公立高校までの学費無料化など、日々の暮らしへのセーフフティ・ネットの整備強化に絞り込んだ。古いタイプの集票戦術を捨て切れない自民党に比べ、民主党は現状への不満と将来への不安にさいなまれる人々の心情をより正確に察知した選挙戦術を展開した。言い換れるなら、民衆が選挙戦の課題（アジェンダ）の設定者になったのである。
次期政権の前途には難問が山積しており、有権者の期待に応えられるかどうか不透明である。だが有権者の脱・自民党支配の選択により、日本が「普通の国」になり、「不可解な日本」論への有効な反論材料が生まれたことだけは確かである。いずれは有権者が民主党主導の政権を見放すかもしれない。そのときは政権選択を繰り返せばよい。それが議会制民主主義というものだろう。ともあれ私はいま、積年の鬱屈感からしばし解放される思いを楽しんでいる。
（筆者は元淑徳大学教授、元読売新聞ロンドン総局長、編集委員）
この感懷はおそらく個人的なものだろう。そうした思いに浸るのは、１９８８年から８年間、（財）フォーリン・プレスセンター（ＦＰＣ）で働いたころの記憶と無縁ではあるまい。ＦＰＣの仕事は日本取材の外国メディアへの支援や協力であり、ＦＰＣ専務理事だった私も外国人のジャーナリストや日本研究者とのおしゃべりに明け暮れする日々を過ごした。おりしも８０年代末から９０年代初めにかけ、日本はバブル景気に浮かれていた。「日本全体の地価は米国全体の地価の２倍以上」といったジョークまじりの統計数字が日本人の自尊心をくすぐり、日米交渉ではいつも日本市場の対外開放や日本からの輸出規制が主要議題になった。
ハリウッドのメージャー映画産業や、ニューヨークなどの名門ビルが次々に日本資本に買収され、誇り高い米国人は欲求不満を募らせていた。そんな状況の中で欧米諸国では「修正日本論者（リビジョニスト）」と呼ばれるジャーナリストや学者による「日本叩き」現象が野火のように広がり、「日本封じ込め」なる挑戦的タイトルの本が米国の書店に並び出した。彼らの論法を大ざっぱに要約すれば、「日本は経済大国だが、社会的、文化的には欧米諸国とは異質な国である」、「日本人による日本改革が期待できない以上、日本市場の対外開放には外圧が必要だ」ということだった。
バブル経済崩壊で日本が「失われた１０年間」の低迷状態に落ち込むにつれ、日本叩き現象は自然消滅の形で姿を消した。しかし「日本異質論」の方は欧米人の脳裏にしっかり刻み込まれた。「日本人が持つ変革への恐怖心」というステレオタイプの日本人像もさして変化しなかった。こうした日本イメージを生む大きな要素は、政権交代なき日本政治への違和感だったはずだ。いくたのスキャンダルや政権閣僚の妄言、失言にもかかわらず、自民党は過去半世紀以上も支配政党の座に居座っていた。欧米諸国から見れば、まさに不可解な政治状況だった。
自民党支配力の源泉は、拡大する富を自民党の族議員（農業族、医療族、道路族、文教族など）を通し、各種業界に分配するシステムを作り上げてきたことだ。日本経済が成長カーブをたどる限り、自民党はこうした家父長型支配を続け、政治の課題（アジェンダ）決定の主導権を保てたことだろう。
しかし東西冷戦終結に伴うグローバル化潮流のもと、市場競争原理が世界的規模で拡大し、世界各地で欧州連合（ＥＵ）など地域連合が形成され、中国やインドなどが急速な経済成長を遂げだした。いずれもが日本経済のかつての成長路線への阻害要因となるものだった。また日本社会が急スピードで少子高齢化に移行するにつれ、雇用縮小、低所得層のさらなる貧困化、若年層の将来への希望の喪失などの不安がとめどもなく拡大してきた。家父長型政治の根幹が揺らぎ出した。
だが長年の政権支配の惰性と安逸感から、自民党は巨大な変化に対応する自己変革を怠ってきた。他方で民主党は選挙戦略を、母子家庭への給付金、公立高校までの学費無料化など、日々の暮らしへのセーフフティ・ネットの整備強化に絞り込んだ。古いタイプの集票戦術を捨て切れない自民党に比べ、民主党は現状への不満と将来への不安にさいなまれる人々の心情をより正確に察知した選挙戦術を展開した。言い換れるなら、民衆が選挙戦の課題（アジェンダ）の設定者になったのである。
次期政権の前途には難問が山積しており、有権者の期待に応えられるかどうか不透明である。だが有権者の脱・自民党支配の選択により、日本が「普通の国」になり、「不可解な日本」論への有効な反論材料が生まれたことだけは確かである。いずれは有権者が民主党主導の政権を見放すかもしれない。そのときは政権選択を繰り返せばよい。それが議会制民主主義というものだろう。ともあれ私はいま、積年の鬱屈感からしばし解放される思いを楽しんでいる。
（筆者は元淑徳大学教授、元読売新聞ロンドン総局長、編集委員）
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟