Japan's Political Changes by Claudia Sonea

Fall is knocking on the door and brings new worries, not only about the spreading of the Swine flu, but also about the economical crisis that most countries have to deal with. As it is, politicians have to prepare a very detailed and credible plan for the people to choose them in the upcoming elections. In US, the plan of Obama’s Party of getting Americans through the recession had great success and it is even starting to show results, thus the parties in other countries have to assume the responsibilities and convince the voters that they do possess the necessary skills to get the economy back on its feet. Let us take Japan a! s example. The world's second-largest economy is weakened by recession: a record jobless rate of 5.7 percent, falling wages, etc. Three administrations have succeeded in the last three years and people are still not happy about the state of things. This year, the party that led almost continuous for 54 years, the Liberal Democratic Party, suffered a massive loss against the Democratic party whose leader, Yukio Hatoyama, promised to focus primarily on the economy. The fact that the Democratic Party won more than 300 of the 480 seats is a proof of the stress people lay nowadays on the good management of an administration. It also shows that Japanese are ready for a change. Hatoyama is supposed to be installed as prime minister in a special session of the parliament in mid-September, but he started the week by flexing his muscles and delivering a speech in front of reporters highlighting the importance to choose Japan's next finance minister, the close c! ollaboration with US as a key ally and model. His party won in! the low er house of parliament with a program focused on an economic model that would help improve people’s lives with higher wages and tax cuts. A bumpy road is laying in front of the Democrats and they have to prove that they can and deserve to lead Japan. First of all they have to deal with the scepticism regarding their program that is regarded as a fantasy, while Hatoyama’s desire to redefine the partnership with US makes many Japanese frown. It all gets down in the end to the way the economy will manage to make its way out of the recession.

related story (sgx15263): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_politics;_ylt=Ao9oJOo0J7...

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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