TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/021990/0219004.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.6 KB | 120 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 46

JAPAN

In the Diet, It's All in the Family


The prevalence of second-generation politicians raises fears
that politics is being restricted to an elite kinship network

By KUMIKO MAKIHARA/TOKYO


    Former Foreign Minister Zentaro Kosaka, 78, wasn't running
for anything; yet there he stood at an election rally before
2,000 people wearing white headbands marked VICTORY. Thanking
them for their longtime support, he said, "I have put all my
might into working for this town, but there's still a lot left
to do." Then he suggested who might do it: "Please let Kenji
work with you to carry that out." The elder Kosaka was
campaigning for his son in hopes of continuing a family
tradition. Three generations of the Kosaka clan have controlled
the mountainous Nagano district, north of Tokyo.

    As the old leaders of Japan's long-ruling Liberal Democratic
Party begin to retire, more and more young sons are riding into
office on their parents' coattails. About 40% of the 325 L.D.P.
candidates running in the Feb. 18 Lower House elections are
children of Diet members. These elections will determine
whether the ruling party, now in jeopardy after losing its
majority in the Upper House last July, can hold on to control
of the government it has dominated for 35 years. But the
prevalence of the nisei giin, or second-generation politicians,
has raised fears that Japanese politics is increasingly being
restricted to an elite kinship network.

    About one-third of the 512-member Lower House and 10% of the
252-member Upper House are sons, sons-in-law or legally adopted
successors of Diet members. Even more politicians are linked
by marital and familial ties. Six of the 20 Cabinet ministers,
including Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Foreign
Minister Taro Nakayama, are sons of former Diet members. Former
Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and L.D.P. kingmaker Shin
Kanemaru are related through the marriage of their children.
Former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, a son of a
parliamentarian, is married to the daughter of former Prime
Minister Nobusuke Kishi. In the upcoming elections, the sons
of former Prime Ministers Takeo Fukuda and Zenko Suzuki hope
to succeed their fathers in the Diet.

    Following in the footsteps of one's father is a strong
tradition in Japan, evident in fields as different as Big
Business, the Kabuki theater and sumo wrestling. But in
politics the custom has been intensified by the commitments of
money and time involved in cultivating constituents.

    Under Japan's constituency system, members of the same party
often run against each other in the same district. Unable to
campaign on different platforms, the candidates stump on their
ability to bring special benefits like new roads and factories
to their towns. Nisei have a distinct advantage because they
inherit the so-called three bans: jiban (constituency), kanban
(name or recognition) and kaban  (suitcase or campaign chest);
they don't have to spend their early careers building these up.

    Defenders of hereditary politics say this has helped
cultivate "many nisei in their 40s who are educated like a
prince and have expertise in policymaking." Michitoshi
Takabatake, a political science professor at Tokyo's Rikkyo
University, points to former Defense Minister Koichi Kato, a
Harvard-educated nisei and an authority on foreign and
agricultural policy. On Japan's northern island of Hokkaido,
the deceased former Agriculture Minister Ichiro Nakagawa was
nicknamed "the brown bear" for his rough manners, while his
nisei son Shoichi, who is running for a third term in the Lower
House, is a graduate of the University of Tokyo who worked at
the Industrial Bank of Japan.

    But critics charge that such easy access allows inept
offspring into the Diet. Minoru Morita, a political
commentator, says, "A self-made politician will have a basic
amount of experience and common sense that nisei don't have."
Admits Zentaro Kosaka: "From my own experience, nisei lack
perseverance and doggedness."

    Still, the perception that nisei have an unfair advantage
discourages others from entering politics. Masatoshi
Wakabayashi, who is running for a third term against Kosaka's
son, recalls how he hesitated to enter politics because he had
no family ties. His mentor told him to run for that very
reason. Wakabayashi warns, "If nisei fill more than half of the
seats, then the public will assume that only special people can
enter politics, and the government will lose vitality."

    So far, Japanese voters show little dissatisfaction with
clan politics. An apple farmer who has supported Zentaro Kosaka
for 40 years has already decided to cast a vote for his son.
Says she: "It's advantageous because he can put to good use
what his father built up."

    It is that kind of blind faith in the status quo that has
kept the L.D.P. in power for so long. Yukio Hatoyama, a
fourth-generation parliamentarian, explains, "Passing a seat
on to one's son arises from the values of giri-ninjo
[obligation and compassion] that shape  politics. That's not
likely to change easily."

    Or so the L.D.P. hopes. Around the country, the ruling-party
candidates are warning voters not to disrupt the established
political order. Said Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu: "I want you
to think carefully about whether to choose the L.D.P. or the
hastily assembled opposition coalition." But unless Japan's
voters begin to realize that what was good in the past may not
be good for the future, politics is likely to become
increasingly a family affair.