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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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081489
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08148900.026
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 36JAPANSame Old StoryIn the back room, party elders pick a fresh but docile leader
Following its humiliating defeat in last month's upper-house
elections, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party groped for ways
to restore its scandal-ridden reputation. Last week the majority
of the party threw its support behind a single candidate for Prime
Minister, Toshiki Kaifu, 58, but it is doubtful whether his
selection has done much to restore the party's honor.
Right after the elections, the L.D.P. announced that it would
select a new leader by ballot rather than through the kind of
back-room parleying that brought Noboru Takeshita and Sousuke Uno
to power. While party members nominated three candidates, senior
power brokers reverted to habit and backed Kaifu, a faceless and
seemingly malleable Diet member, as Prime Minister.
Kaifu is little known except for his oratorical talent and his
pleasant personality. Those were exactly the qualifications that
appealed to such influential L.D.P. members as Takeshita and former
Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe. They see Kaifu as young and
attractive enough to appeal to the public but docile enough to heed
his elders. Anyone more outspoken could threaten the delicate
balance among the party's four major factions, which operate like
separate clubs and compete for Cabinet posts.
Kaifu, though regarded as a bright and rising legislator,
boasts few achievements during nearly three decades in the Diet,
except for serving twice as Education Minister. "He's a
good-natured person," says Mitsuo Tomizuka, a former labor leader
who once negotiated with Kaifu. "But I worry about whether he can
lead people, whether he can assert independence."
The L.D.P. chieftains may like Kaifu's marionette qualities,
but the real test for the party will be the next elections for the
lower house, which are expected within a year. The opposition
parties were quick to decry Kaifu's candidacy as a sign that the
L.D.P. would not reform itself along more democratic lines. The
L.D.P. hopes that Kaifu, the star of his university debate team,
will simply outspeak his opponents.