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THE FIVE CANDIDATES vying to become Japan’s next prime minister promised on Sunday to resolve the country’s nuclear crisis and revive its battered economy, amid widespread public cynicism about a revolving door of leaders.
Japan — which is set to see its sixth prime minister in five years — has fumbled recently to find leadership to tackle formidable challenges, including recovery from a massive earthquake and tsunami in March and the battle to bring a nuclear power plant sent into meltdown by the disasters under control.
Even before the disasters hit, the nation was already ailing with serious problems such as an aging population and stagnant economy.
None of the five candidates looking to replace Naoto Kan as prime minister is expected to win the needed majority of 200 votes in balloting among legislators in the ruling Democratic Party in the first round of voting, set for Monday.
If no one gets a majority, a run-off between the top two candidates would follow.
‘Stunningly low interest’
The winner of the Democrats’ leadership vote is almost certain to become the nation’s next prime minister because the party controls the lower house of Parliament, which chooses Japan’s chief.
Public interest has been stunningly low, underlining the widespread disenchantment with politics. A debate among the candidates was not carried live on any of the major TV networks.
“In Japan these days, a prime minister who lasts even one year is a miracle,” said Minoru Morita, who has written several books on Japanese politics.
He predicted more confusion ahead, including a possible split in the ruling party in coming months.
Japanese media reports said Sunday that Economy Minister Banri Kaieda, 62, had a slight lead over other candidates after securing the backing of the ruling party’s behind-the-scenes power broker, Ichiro Ozawa.
Run-off
But that could prove a pitfall in a run-off, as legislators may rally behind a rival to block Ozawa’s grip on power, according to Morita.
Facing off against Kaieda are former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano and former Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi.
Maehara, 49, was initially considered the favorite until Kaieda won Ozawa’s backing.
Maehara has technically violated election laws by accepting donations from foreigners — a problem that could bring him down if the opposition decides to pursue that in parliament. He stepped down as foreign minister earlier this year over that scandal.
Legislators, therefore, may decide to support a relatively safe candidate such as Noda, said Morita. ”Some lawmakers are extremely afraid of Mr. Ozawa’s almost dictatorial power,” he told The Associated Press.
Ozawa, 69, a veteran who began in the long-ruling and now opposition Liberal Democratic Party, is known for savvily engineering elections, sending novices to parliament, as well as dooming candidates to defeat.
Ozawa is embroiled in a political funding scandal, though some say his trial is likely to end in acquittal, and his presence has hung like a shadow over the party leadership campaign.
Debate
At Sunday’s debate at a Tokyo hotel, candidates appeared in agreement, all promising a revived Japanese economy and a resolution of the nuclear crisis in comments heavy on rhetoric but scant on concrete proposals.
“I would like to use the recovery efforts in northeastern Japan as a springboard to achieve an overall revival of Japan,” Kaieda said, after invoking President John F. Kennedy’s famous line about asking what you can do for your country, rather than what your country can do for you.
No matter who wins, the new prime minister is expected to last barely a year because he would merely be serving out the term of Kan, who announced Friday that he would resign.
Kan, 64, came to power in 2010 amid high hopes for his liberal and approachable persona. But by the time he stepped down, his popularity had plunged.
Japanese are disappointed and frustrated by the apparent inept rule of the Democrats, who swept to power in 2009, ending a virtually continuous half-century rule by the Liberal Democrats and promising to help consumers, not just big business.
Soichiro Tahara, who hosts TV shows and has authored books, noted that Ozawa remains a powerful shadow shogun and expressed doubts that the next prime minister will get much done.
“Japan certainly isn’t headed to any bright future,” he said in a recent TV commentary.
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Shuggie Bain great read harrowing but unputdownable . Went on to win the Booker Prize and its the authors debut novel. Hopefully book shops wont close in this stage of lockdown for a llt of our sanity
@Margaret Mcgarry: super choice!
@Margaret Mcgarry: big fan of book shops Mags but needs must now. Order online if necessary
@Margaret Mcgarry: A wonderful book
I was on a fantasy buzz this year which started with the book “the dwarves”i thought it would be rubbish but I ended up reading the entire series plus any related books by the author which I think added up to 9 books.and then followed that up with one of the best fantasy books I’ve ever read”the name of the wind”.its the first of a yet to be concluded trilogy. The second book is just as good although I cant remember the name of it right now and the third book has not been released yet.
@Aidan Ryan: The Wise Man’s Fear is the second one. Both amazing books. We’ll be waiting until we’re old men for the third one it seems.
Came across irish writer Jane Casey who is based in london. She has a series of meave Kerrigan detective that are so captivating. Fiction but reads factual. Each one with a few surprising twists.
@Matt: I had a look at her books and picked the first ‘the running’ but was put off by the seeming darkness of the story line. Are they very heavy? I cant do depressing books lately. But I do love a well written detective story. And a female lead would interest me
I bought several Tom Clancy books and worked through them. I bought a few biographies which I always enjoy. Also read some of the books my children had collected over the years such as Alex Rider and The Hunger Games.
I was given 6 books for Christmas from various family members which will help me get through Lockdown 3.0
John Creedon’s new book on place names of Ireland (half way through at the moment) and Manchán Magan’s book on the richness of the Irish language… two books I recommend without a doubt
Doireann ni Griofas ‘a ghost in the throat’
Wonderful
And any of the Benjamin black novels.
The phone book
@Alan Cosgrove: That’s grand so, now try explaining the storyline to someone.
@RJ.Fallon: spoiler: Mr. Zebedee did it.
@Alan Cosgrove: online?
Bill Brysons Book ‘One Summer’ has to be the Book of the Year, in the absence of an uncle telling you a few fireside tales of an eventful 1927 it was a perfect companion for this empty Christmas,Enjoy folks
Some of my favourite books (not just of 2020): Memoirs of a Geisha, The Historian, The Kite Runner, Rachel’s Holiday, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, all the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly, A Discovery of Witches, The Butterfly Garden, Rachel Abbott’s Tom Douglas books, and The Thief of Time by John Boyne. Many more but they’re off the top of my head – hopefully someone will get a good read out of it. Happy New Year all :)
The Three-Body Problem trilogy was an interesting read, my first encouter with any chinese SciFi which seems to have lost little if anything in translation, its an interesting take on the deafening silence of the Universe with a lot of believable science for a layman, its very unusual, and despite very little deep character development and almost an autistic feel to it at times, I found it fascinating, right from its disturbing opening scenes set in Mao’s China, to the brilliant second book (The Dark Forest), right thru all its speculative ages set in our real past and distant future.
@Marco Rolo: excellent. chinese sci-fi is becoming popular.
@Marco Rolo: loved those books. Be interesting to see the Netflix adaptation of them – though I can’t imagine how they’ll film the end of the third one!
The first two books of the Phillip Pullman Trilogy – the Book of Dust. Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickelby. I’m now dipping a toe into Dolores Cannon’s book, The Keepers of the Garden which I will have to read at least twice to try and get my head round what it says about our origin and that of our planet.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. An astonishingly beautifully written book. Tells the touching story of Shakespeare’s son and reimagines Anne Hathaway as the gifted herbalist and devoted mother, Agnes. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Barack Obama – A Promised Land, particularly in audiobook format with him reading it. Great book, incredible story about the type of leader the USA needed and needs to have, now that we’ve seen the madness….
Books picked up for a couple of euro in charity shops were interesting reads for me during 2020. A tribute to Maureen Potter, edited 2004 by Deirdre Purcell, was what I call comfort reading. My Education, edited by John Quinn (1997) was based on interviews with a range of Irish people – so many of whom went to everyday schools. I read two of the late John le Carre’s espionage novels, most recently Absolute Friends (2004). Le Carre doesn’t glamourise spies and their accomplices and is reasonably skeptical about the shifting morality displayed by friendly and unfriendly states in international affairs. Happy reading in 2021.
I’ve started ” Serpents and Saviours ” by S.V.Wolfe , looks very promising fantasy so far.( a new Irish based writer with amazing storytelling skills)
Game of thrones book series. Set in a world of political intrigue devious leaders and ficticious creatures. A real guide to the world of today.
Helen Moorhouse’s latest book, The Gallery of Stolen Souls, was brilliant. It’s not in any of the bookshops though but is available through Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gallery-Stolen-Souls-Helen-Moorhouse/dp/1781993815
American dirt by Jeanine Cummins, started learning Spanish on the back of it, outstanding writing. Also loved where the crawdads sing (Delia Owens) , the whereabouts of eneas mcnulty (Sebastian Barry), the water dancer (Ta-nehisi Coates), the madd Adam trilogy by Margaret Atwood, anything by Liz Nugget. I listen to books rather than read, but these books had me gripped for different reasons, all tugging at different parts of my soul
Barack Obama – A Promised Land, particularly in audiobook format with him reading it. Great book, incredible story about the type of leader the USA needed and needs to have, now that we’ve seen the madness….
Apart from The Borstal Boy I’ve been binging on box sets on Amazon Prime (Ragnar) and Netflix (Uhtred)
Richie Sadlier’s ‘Recovering’ made light of the realities of life as a professional footballer and how small some of my own problems might be in comparison to his own.
Donal O’Cusack’s ‘Come what may’ is another essential read for any Irish sports fan with a real behind the scenes look at life in hurling.
I discovered Donald Ray Pollock. Nothing comforting about his stories. They’re dark, violent and very grim at times but also sometimes hilarious. But always brilliantly written.
To many to mention, but The Wisdom of The Green Gage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar was amazing as was Shuggie Bain. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson is my poetry book of the year.
Read all of the Yuval Noah Harari books in lockdown, great read.
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall is excellent also.
Yaa Gyasi is a wonderful writer. Her first book, Homegoing is a great read and her new book,Transcendent Kingdom, looks good, too
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