Brendan in Japan

I took the train to the office as usual this morning. I wound my way through the masses of Tokyo's rush hour to Taro Kono's parliamentary office. Through security, and up the stairs to the small cramped office on the second floor. But today's different: suits spill out of the MP's backroom into the reception, listening intently to what's going on inside.The buzz is in the air.

But I don't really know what's going on. I'm still not fluent enough to follow this scene; and even if I was, who knows if I'd be in on the loop. It's not exactly an open political scene.

Is it all going to change?

The LDP's ruled the roost for so long, but their ratings have never been this low. Really, we're talking Mariana Trench here.

Following the second world war, Japanese society changed. People left the rice-paddies and mountains of the countryside and headed to the neon and crowds of the city. This has left many MPs representing nothing but a handful of farmers and some trees. To keep at least some jobs in these rural towns, the politicians have been building roads in the countryside. Lots of roads that nobody needs. Construction companies show their appreciation for the business to the politicians at election time.

Back in Fukuoka I'd often cycle to the local dam. The road followed the river all the way there. In fact, on the other side of the river was another road following the same route, in case I wished to try out that side. t was easy to switch betweeen them. I could try the alternative anytime I liked: there was a new bridge every hundred metres.

This little deal has been made easier by the way the national budget is divided up. In Japan, the road tax doesn't go into a general pot, but just goes on roads. In theory this seems a great idea to me: officials might look at the roads one year and say, "Hey, they're in pretty good nick this year, so 50% off the tax this year!". In truth, no politician wants to reduce a tax one year, if they think they're going to have to raise it the next. So you get roads - whether you need them or not.

So now comes along a proposal to break down the fence that rims off the road tax money from the general fund. Let's use the money to pay for the old people hospital bills! So go the calls for reform. No, let's increase sales tax (VAT)! say the construction gang. And that's the point where Kono and others are threatening to leave the party. If we get an increase in VAT vs. opening up the road-tax budget, we're going off on our own, they say.

So the meeting crowded around me, as I tap away on my electronic dictionary, might be about that. Or it might be about FID, or DIRR, or some other obscure acronym. (In fact, I find out later it's about India and America's nuclear deal, which is quite exciting, as I got to write the English version of the resolution - which as no-one but Japan speaks Japanese, will be the one actually read. But more on that another time.)

I come out of the meeting to make more room for people who can actually follow what's going on. I browse the internet and read Robert Gates' recent speech in Singapore, US Defence Secretary (honestly that's first on my list every morning - what has Robert Gate's said today?). Anyway:

"Over the past three decades an enormous swathe of Asia has changed almost beyond recognition. By any measure – financial, technological, industrial, trade, educational, or cultural – Asia has become the center of gravity in a rapidly globalizing world."

So nothing new here, I suppose. European power-clashes, British Empire, 1st World War, rise of America, 2nd World War, Cold War; history for so long been a story centred around the Atlantic. Now the Pacific is where the action is. (I guess I'll have to leave out Japan's empire efforts of the Pacific War in my glib narrative...)

ANYWAY, there's a buzz out here. So why I am heading back to old-world London?

A little later, I find myself looking through Koike Yuriko's biography this morning. According to the gossip here she's the first female Japanese Prime Minister. She went off to Egypt upon graduation, mastered Arabic, came back to a media career, before getting swept up in politics. Hmmm... I'm a sucker for hunting for parallels in others' biographies. Look! It's just like me! She's from a small island-kingdom too, and off she went to learn a language, and then came back to a media career...

Yeah right. Well. We'll see. At any rate, the buzz in the office this morning, Asia being the new power centre, and obscure biographies; I can't help feeling like this Japan business isn't quite finished for me.