Komeito Chief: Election not a rejection of LDP policies
Do you think the ruling coalition members learned anything from their election defeat this past weekend?
According to Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary-general of Komeito, which is the coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), there wasn’t anything worth learning.
“I think that voters aren’t necessarily rejecting the reform policies of Abe and (former Prime Minister Junichiro) Koizumi,” Kitagawa said.
Kitagawa talked with reporters late Sunday night after voting for the Upper House election finished.
Meanwhile, a survey of voters assign traits like “arrogance” and “untrusworthiness” to the LDP, and “immaturity” and “expectation raising” to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Only 14 percent of respondents said the LDP “raises expectations,” a drop of 8 percentage points on an identical survey carried out last year, while other positive images of the party also declined.
l need sme 1 in nottingham who has a studio l wann becme fam 
perfeckt 10:10
i love all that is hello kitty but pandapple is so cute
I may be reading this wrong but it seems that he’s saying that Abe’s attempts at reforms are simply continuations of those set in train by Koizumi. That’s simply not true, is it?
July 30th, 2007 at 4:22 pmI’d been thinking the whole education and constitution butchery were a part of the Utsukushii Kuni thing and therefore very much Abe’s baby (and for which therefore he had absolutely no mandate from the electorate, as they weren’t policies they’d had a chance to vote on… until now, when they soundly rejected them).
Mind you, I’ve not been paying constant attention, so if that’s not the case, I’ll stand corrected.
(small thing) the “survey of voters” link goes to the Japanese version, although you can get to the english page via a small button – right hand side down bottom.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:31 pmwhoops!! – the link is Correct (long day..fatigue setting in).
sorry rem.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:36 pmWait and see they say
July 30th, 2007 at 10:43 pmSo, how did the “Curry Killer” do? Or Tojo’s grand-daughter? Let’s not discourage Notorious Women from seeking high office!
July 30th, 2007 at 11:07 pmThere’s a story over at the Japan News Review with the superb headline “Fujimori, Ainu, Lesbian, inventor and Tojo’s granddaughter all defeated in election”.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:20 pmHow did the poor Inventor get lumped into that group?? Sounds like a joke… “Fujimori, Ainu, Lesbian, inventor and Tojo’s granddaughter walk into a bar…”.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:18 amDr.Nakamats happens to be one of my personal heroes (Mr.Levenstein) a neverending source of inspiration to me and probably the foremost inventor and philosopher of the last twenty years (in Japan) – the grubby mucky world of politics in my humble opinion is beneath him..but then he is his own man…
http://www.brainsturbator.com/site/comments/yoshiro_nakamatsu_we_salute_you
*nuff said*
regards
remora
July 31st, 2007 at 7:20 amKomeito and Liberal Democratic Party have absolute majority(two third of members) in Lower House. However, the loss at this time’s Upper House election is the obvious warning for the ruling coalition parties.
Komeito and LDP will loose to Democratic Party in next Lower House election if they don’t deal well with on going issues, such as social welfare(pension system), tax (consumption tax, etc), financial reform and income gap.
It was also revealed that ordinary Japanese were not much interested in patriotic education reform, the revision of constitution or foreign diplomacy.
July 31st, 2007 at 7:39 amnow here’s a REAL candidate with ideas (and cojones).
“I’ve long campaigned against evil government policies from outside the system. Now I want in!” a guitar-wielding ZAKI, whose real name is Masatoshi Nozaki, shouted to a crowd in the shopping district of Shibuya last week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/28/AR2007072801285.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Zaki..Nakamats..there should be more of ‘em!
rem.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:02 amMost of the LDP, especially the more ‘pro pride’ branch that includes both Abe and Koizumi, have long been in favor of revising the constitution and increasing patriotic education (they usually say removing ‘masochistic historical perspective’). Abe has just pushed it more concretely and as his top goals. Koizumi wanted those things, but emphasized economic and political reform…and busting LDP factional chops. Ishihara has long advocated for those things. Abe is about the first prime minister to openly campaign for these things as his top goals in a very long time.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:03 amis it any wonder that REAL candidates with REAL ideas got no support?.
“Some would-be celebrity politicians are hampered by a ban on campaigning where they are most popular: cyberspace.”
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=82&pid=&sid=1203109&page=2
*this is slightly off topic and I’m grinding my own out-of-tune barrel organ…but then that’s me*
rem.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:41 am