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Abe appears to have decided on poll, LDP official tells media

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Guess we pretty much know what his plans are for the tax hike! But now he can wait and see how the media and general public react before announcing his decision publicly then reverse it to cover his ass if things look bad. Pull your stick out, let it rip, and see where the wind carries it pretty much sums up his leadership on this critically important issue.

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"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have decided to call an early election, a senior ruling party lawmaker was quoted as saying on Thursday"

So, when it was leaked that he might call a snap election he flat out denied it. When he admitted it was possible -- in the very same breath -- he said it was impossible. Now he's saying it's going to happen but can't bring himself yet to tell us in person. Quite the leader, this guy.

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Don't really see the need for an election in order to delay the consumption tax hike (consumption tax should be eliminated but that is another issue), but by making the hike an election issue it puts the DPJ in a very bad spot politically. This whole tax mess was caused by the financial illiteracy of Kan and Noda, who brought this idiotic idea back from the dead where it had been since the last time a PM was stupid enough to follow the advice of the ideological hacks at the MOF and raised the tax. DPJ will be a position where they either have to campaign FOR the hike, or hypocritically back off from their previous position. Between a rock and a hard place, and that is likely one big reason for Abe calling an election.

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Smithinjapan: Exactly, not only is this an example of what kind of "leader" he is, but it shows his low morality and how he will do & say anything to keep his grip on power.

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Guy_Jean_Dailleult Nov. 14, 2014 - 09:14AM JST This whole tax mess was caused by the financial illiteracy of Kan and Noda, who brought this idiotic idea back from the dead where it had been since the last time a PM was stupid enough to follow the advice of the ideological hacks at the MOF and raised the tax.

But the recent experiences of other major countries that have absorbed significant sales tax increases without sending their underlying economies into a tailspin should serve as some proof that a sales tax hike alone should not trigger a recession.

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So, Abe's idea is to boost his popularity by postponing the unpopular tax hike, and get his party and himself re-elected.

It sounds like an excellent plan for the LDP, but my fingers are firmly crossed in hope there will not be further collateral damage to the country as result...

Opposition politicians say delaying the tax hike would show that his “Abenomics” growth strategy has failed.

Nonsense, it's just an election bribe, and don't the people just love it. A bunch of suckers.

Abe, though, has argued that to achieve fiscal reform, Japan must end deflation and get the economy growing.

And he's done nothing of note to actually get the economy growing despite 2 years in power. What does this tell us?

Abe raised the tax to 8% from 5% in April, sparking Japan’s biggest economic contraction since the global financial crisis in the second quarter.

Oh, so boo hoo. The first quarter before is was conversely solid.

What is it with the world today and all this short-termism? People are so soft these days.

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or hypocritically back off from their previous position.

Is this such a terrible thing? Why do we demand that our politicans be so inflexible with their thinking? It seems like any political policy, no matter how terrible, has to be persued to the very end - because a reversal or rethink is just about the worst thing you could do.

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sfjp330 - Unfortunately, that's not how it works. The "other countries have higher tax rates" argument ignores that these other countries imposed these taxes during times of credit expansion (aka bubbles) or increasing government spending, and so were able to hide the damage they were doing to their economies. Sales/consumption taxes are regressive and always have a negative effect on GDP, it's just a question of if that effect can be hidden. Japan is not increasing credit (it can't) or government spending (enough) so it can't hide the effect.

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I'm all in favor of an election and I hope Abe wins, but I dread the thought of weeks of the "yoroshiku onegai itashimasu" loudspeaker vans. If any politician will promise to ban, or at least mute, them, I will do my best to take out Japanese citizenship & vote for him/her.

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When Abe talks it reminds me of the words of that old Beatles song, "Goo goo ga choob. Goo goo ga choob".

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The point that is most disturbing is the government has framed the whole consumption tax hike on the premiss that it is absolutely necessary to stem the nations spiraling debt as the population ages along with a decrease in wage earners over the next several decades and the country will crumble without it.

They also have brainwashed EVERYONE into thinking that the revenue raised by the consumption tax goes directly into funding social welfare programs which has been their strongest selling point, and what the average joe-Tanaka has been led to believe, but that is far from how the Ministry of Finance sees it.

This has been completely swallowed fish-line-and-sinker by the media along with nearly every so-called expert they drag out of a closet and it's absolutely stunning that NOBODY talks about other ways of debt reduction and revenue collection. How about the steep rise in military spending, which NOBODY asked for, unnecessary public works projects nationally, across every prefecture as well as in nearly every municipality which are only handouts to construction companies and to shore up their base in the non-urban areas, etc, etc, etc. Lets not forget to mention all of Abe's generous gifts to the business community which was to correlate with a rise in income for those being most burdened by the tax to begin with but has instead hit them even harder.

Lets not forget what was behind that hand-out to begin with. Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) and it's member corporations had decided that political contributions would no-longer be made during the DJP administrations and stopped donations cold-turkey, so convenient for the LDP during it's minority stint and would be a great story if their were any investigative journalist in Japan, but Japan Business Federation recently announced that that policy would end and it would be up to individual companies to decide to donate or not. Wonder why they reversed policy because the media sure hasn't talked about it? Could it have had anything to do with Abe's quiver of economy-saving arrows as well as his bill to eliminate the three year policy on temp workers which would make it easier for them to throw more workers off the full-time rosters and into endless yearly contracts. Lets not forget that Keidanren and members have been the most vocal on the push to raise the tax and why not, better to tax their workers than to tax them in their minds.

Abe does not represent the interests of the people and never has. He is in the pockets of Keidanren and those whose pockets are deep enough to fund his agenda while chaining us all to his ultra-conservatives values. He gets euphoric over the good-ol-days days when bushido ran rich in the blood of every Japanese and the concept of self-fulfillment was trumped by loyalty to the state and his majesty, the Emperor. He has sold the people out and whatever his decision is, it will only be made on whether it is to his benefit, followed by that of the LDP, Keidanren, the media, blah, blah, blah, and with joe-Tanaka at the bottom of the totem-pole.

Too bad the media is in that list towards the top and have sold their soles to Team-Abe and not to speak on behalf of the people.

Who said Caesar was dead. Long live Abe and bless us all with wisdom and his generous gifts.

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it's absolutely stunning that NOBODY talks about other ways of debt reduction and revenue collection.

Show me the numbers.

How many billions of yen has military spending risen? Public works projects are often unnecessary I grant you, and I'm all for cutting such waste, but how many billions is that going to save?

The rroblem with the debt is that we aren't talking about reducing a debt pile of billions of yen, we are talking about a debt pile of more than 1,000 TRILLION yen, and growing about 40 trillion per year.

So, show me the numbers for the alternate debt reduction plan and make me believe it's possible.

Personally, I'm cool if the population wants to see social security spending slashed along with cuts to every other part of the budget, as would be required. But I don't see anyone seriously calling for that as an alternative to raising taxes. I only see people calling for tough decisions to be delayed.

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fxgai Nov. 14, 2014 - 12:48PM JST

How many billions of yen has military spending risen?

The Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—Japan's Defense Ministry has requested a budget of ¥4.899 trillion ($47.1 billion) for the coming fiscal year starting April 1, a 2.4% increase over the amount for the current year. If granted, it would be the third year in a row Japan has expanded its military spending following a decade of cuts.

The figure, requested by ministry Friday, doesn't include spending related to U.S. bases in Japan, or for the purchase of a new government airplane for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. If these items are included, the total budget request would be ¥5.054 trillion or 3.43%, the largest ever for the ministry. It would also come as Mr. Abe continues his program to beef up the country's defense capabilities.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/japans-defense-ministry-asks-for-budget-increase-1409373498

More details can be found at the Ministry of Defense website:

http://www.mod.go.jp/e/d_budget/<>

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How about the steep rise in military spending, which NOBODY asked for

With China's threat, J public is agreeing to the rise. Abe's approval ratings suggest that. I don't know any Japanese who doesn't want Japan's stronger defense power.

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Looks to me PM Abe wants to make SURE voters can not vote him out of office before he does all the UNPOPULAR things : (1) Reinterpret the Constitution because he does not have the votes to revise the Constitution. So he can send Japanese military to fight wars outside Japan started by USA. (2) Restart the nuclear reactors despite opposition by most Japanese. (3) Raise the sales tax to 10% from 8%, which can lead to a recession.

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he can send Japanese military to fight wars outside Japan started by USA

No, even with the reinterpretation of the Constitution Japan can not do that.

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Abe's approval ratings suggest that.

Abe's approval ratings are heading only one way and that's down.

I don't know any Japanese who doesn't want Japan's stronger defense power.

How many Japanese do you know? A few million? Because if it's any less than that it hardly matters what the people you know want.

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Mr. Perfect,

Thank you.

So the total Defense Ministry budget is about 5 trillion yen (about 5% of the total budget). Therefore, Japan could cut it's ENTIRE Defense budget, leaving it defenseless, and the budget deficit would STILL be some 35 trillion yen every year.

And that's an aggressive budget cutting scenario.

Realistically, what percentage how much of the Defense Ministry budget can be cut? Japan is unfortunately not in a benign strategic environment.

The ministry in charge of public works spending was either 6 trillion or 16 trillion - I forget - but again, even if they were to cut the entire budget there too, they'd STILL be at least 20 trillion yen in the hole. (And Japan's roads would also fall into disrepair).

Realisitically, I think tax hikes do need to be part of the equation for balancing the budget. If Abe had an economic clue he might be able to foster some sustainable economic growth too, but even then I doubt Japan can achieve enough with it's demographics to render tax hikes unnecessary. Wasting time only means the taxes will need to be hiked higher in future. Sooner is better.

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fxgai Nov. 14, 2014 - 05:38PM JST

Mr. Perfect,

Thank you.

So the total Defense Ministry budget is about 5 trillion yen (about 5% of the total budget). Therefore, Japan could cut it's ENTIRE Defense budget, leaving it defenseless, and the budget deficit would STILL be some 35 trillion yen every year.

And that's an aggressive budget cutting scenario.

Where did I say doing away with the military? I wasn't suggesting that at all. I was merely pointing out that there are other ways to raise revenue and reduce the debt. A 3.5% increase in military spending could be avoided if the MOD (Ministry of Defense) made an effort at eliminating redundancies, bid-rigging and rethink some of it's grand purchases such as the over-priced and under-performing F-35 fighter-jet which is widely known in the USA but for some reason not in the JASDF. Look, if you are at all familiar with Japanese government agencies you would know that they could, if they chose, to eliminate 10% percent of their budget without working up a sweat. It's all about awarding over-priced contracts to a select few corporations in return for a retirement at said companies with a salary that NO-one can justify, and that goes for every government agency. If you don't mind paying a higher consumption tax then be my guest but I for one can't see letting public servants hump my backside and demand that I pay for their drink afterwards. But the majority of the Japanese seem to take it quietly and that's why the LDP has been in power all but of a half-dozen years or so since the end of WWII.

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"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have decided to call an early election

In more democratic nations, it's not the Prime Minister or Chancelor wo decides when their is a new election but the parlament and the final say would have the head of the country, which is not Abe but the Emperor. But who am I kidding, Japan is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy.

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Where did I say doing away with the military? I wasn't suggesting that at all.

I know - I was just pointing out the magnitude of the problem.

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Another problem is that Japan's foot prices are already quite high-- over ¥100 for an apple...and not even an organic one at that. If the base price were lower, the sales tax wouldn't be so bad.

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zorken: "Why do we demand that our politicans be so inflexible with their thinking?"

There's a difference between later changing your mind about what is clearly a bad idea because it is a bad idea, and simply changing your mind after you've discovered a bad decision has cost you popularity points and that's the ONLY reason you're changing your mind. But worse still, Abe isn't suddenly being 'flexible' about past thinking, he's contradicting himself in a SINGLE BREATH! "We're not having an election. We may need to have one. We're not having one." The latter two were literally in back to back sentences in a single speech. As for being inflexible, the only things Abe hasn't gone 180 on for the mere sake of political points are the things he SHOULD change his mind on: secrecy bill, which the majority are against but he pushed through anyway. "Reinterpreting" the constitution, which he got rammed through despite the majority being against it, because he reworded it to fit his selfish purposes. Restarting the NPPs, which he promised would not be done without the public agreeing to it, and which they are against but he wants to do anyway. Those are but a few that SHOULD be changed for the sake of the people, but he refuses to budge on.

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@smithinjapan Sorry! I wasn't particularly clear in my original post - think there may have been some misunderstanding. I wasn't actually talking about Abe's decisions at all. But the one of the previous commenters thoughts on the DJP and the tax increase. I do agree with what you've written though. I'm particularly frustrated with the election talk - it's feels like another distracting game for them all to play - while they get to avoid talking about (let alone solving) any real problems.

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Good strategy for now. Buy time and see how economy fares even with possible credit rating downgrade as nation. Corporations got their wish by tax break so they must increase wages to stoke consumer spending. Worst case scenario would be: no tax hike, credit rating downgrade, less wages for people = mountains of debt. The Japanese government needs to force corps to spend & increase wages. Corps should know if tax hike goes through, they'll loose business anyway because consumers will not spend, so they have a tough decision to make. Good luck!

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What are you ranting about smith?

When asked about the dissolution, his reply was "he wasn't thinking about it". Of course, that's the correct way of answering them because the decision to whether or not to raise the consumption tax will be based on the GDP reports and this is what the current law (scheduled increase) states. (This law was approved during the Noda cabinet). And all the 'inflexible' or 'flexibe' mumbo jumbo as well as what Abe had decided in terms of NPP, foreign policy, secrecy bill, the limits of collective defense will be put to the test if he decides to call for a snap election. Sounds very democratic to me.

As with most of your posts, you offer no alternatives but merely going against Abe's policy because you don't like him.

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Guy_Jean_Dailleult Nov. 14, 2014 - 09:44AM JST sfjp330 - Unfortunately, that's not how it works. The "other countries have higher tax rates" argument ignores that these other countries imposed these taxes during times of credit expansion (aka bubbles) or increasing government spending, and so were able to hide the damage they were doing to their economies. Sales/consumption taxes are regressive and always have a negative effect on GDP, it's just a question of if that effect can be hidden. Japan is not increasing credit (it can't) or government spending (enough) so it can't hide the effect.

Show me where Japan cannot hide the effects. What you mentioned has not happened and will not happen despite almost a decade of over 200% of GDP problem in Japan.

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@Ansea: n more democratic nations, it's not the Prime Minister or Chancelor wo decides when their is a new election but the parlament and the final say would have the head of the country, which is not Abe but the Emperor. But who am I kidding, Japan is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Wrong ln Emperor.

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nigelboy Nov. 15, 2014 - 01:41AM JST

And all the 'inflexible' or 'flexibe' mumbo jumbo as well as what Abe had decided in terms of NPP, foreign policy, secrecy bill, the limits of collective defense will be put to the test if he decides to call for a snap election. Sounds very democratic to me.

Sounds very democratic to me.

Lets mention the most significant reason for debunking your assumption, and that being "Sounds very democratic to me."

Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens are meant to participate equally – either directly or, through elected representatives, indirectly – in the proposal, development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run.

Well, guess that really doesn't apply in Japan because firstly, there is a huge vote disparity problem therefore citizens can NOT "participate equally". Secondly, elected officials are unable to vote their conscious in any way as the party leaders dictate to EVERY member what their vote will be. This has been clearly demonstrated over and over with the most notable being that of the so-called "postal rebels" of 2005. Then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided, before calling an election, that he would not give official party endorsement to 37 members of his party who voted against the postal bills; that is, the 37 (rebels) were not allowed to run as members of the party as they had not toed-the-party-line with most running as independents and a handful joining opposition parties. Prime Minister Koizumi was so incensed with the 37 rebels that he fielded so-called assassins candidates to run against them. Show me any other democracy in-which your own party will throw you off the ticket and feild assasin canidates against members who vote their own conscious. And please don't list Hong Kong, Myanmar or the like.

Voter Disparity The Supreme Court followed legal precedent in ruling in 2006 that the House of Councillors election in 2004 was held in a constitutionally sound way despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of votes between the nation's most densely and most sparsely populated electoral districts". Currently the average in some districts is as high as three urban votes to one rural vote.

Ease to become a candidate: Each deposit for candidacy is 3 million yen (30 thousand dollars) for single-seat constituency and 6 million yen (60 thousand dollars) for proportional representation which is a lot of money to come up with for the average Joe-Tanaka. Then you need the blessing of the local political chapter, the prefectural chapter and then the Nagatacho chapter and then the Prime Minister and if any one of the above does not endorse your candidacy then you have no chance to be listed in that political party and your only choice is to run as an independent.

This all means that elected officials are no more than rubber-stamps of the ruling elite, the shadow leaders, the puppet masters, etc. Sure, citizens could chose to vote for independents who can vote their conscious but your representative will be a deaf-mute the whole term of office and thus again, your vote will be wasted.

To suggest that this election will be a mandate on Abe's NPP, foreign policy, secrecy bill, the limits of collective defense and let's not forget Abe's decision to export weaponry and his most daring stunt, reinterpretation of article 9, is to abandon reality.

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Well, guess that really doesn't apply in Japan because firstly, there is a huge vote disparity problem therefore citizens can NOT "participate equally". Secondly, elected officials are unable to vote their conscious in any way as the party leaders dictate to EVERY member what their vote will be. This has been clearly demonstrated over and over with the most notable being that of the so-called "postal rebels" of 2005. Then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided, before calling an election, that he would not give official party endorsement to 37 members of his party who voted against the postal bills; that is, the 37 (rebels) were not allowed to run as members of the party as they had not toed-the-party-line with most running as independents and a handful joining opposition parties. Prime Minister Koizumi was so incensed with the 37 rebels that he fielded so-called assassins candidates to run against them. Show me any other democracy in-which your own party will throw you off the ticket and feild assasin canidates against members who vote their own conscious. And please don't list Hong Kong, Myanmar or the like.

Actually, Koizumi doesn't have a unilateral power to do this. It was basically a consensus choice within the LDP to "weed" out the opposition lawmakers. This is a no brainer. If an LDP lawmaker went against the consensus decision of his/her party, he/she basically stated that he/she is against the decision. So why on earth would LDP or any other party in the same scenario for that matter support them in their reelection? Common sence.

Voter Disparity The Supreme Court followed legal precedent in ruling in 2006 that the House of Councillors election in 2004 was held in a constitutionally sound way despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of votes between the nation's most densely and most sparsely populated electoral districts". Currently the average in some districts is as high as three urban votes to one rural vote.

All I know is that this upcoming Lowe House representative election (if it happens) in question has a 1.988 disparity as a result of the elimination of 5 districts enacted under the reform law during the Noda cabinet.

Ease to become a candidate: Each deposit for candidacy is 3 million yen (30 thousand dollars) for single-seat constituency and 6 million yen (60 thousand dollars) for proportional representation which is a lot of money to come up with for the average Joe-Tanaka. Then you need the blessing of the local political chapter, the prefectural chapter and then the Nagatacho chapter and then the Prime Minister and if any one of the above does not endorse your candidacy then you have no chance to be listed in that political party and your only choice is to run as an independent.

My suggestions is to convince the local prefectural party chapter that you are qualified. Nothing new. There are plenty of elected officials that started that way from the very bottom.

This all means that elected officials are no more than rubber-stamps of the ruling elite, the shadow leaders, the puppet masters, etc. Sure, citizens could chose to vote for independents who can vote their conscious but your representative will be a deaf-mute the whole term of office and thus again, your vote will be wasted

Former PM Kan started out with being an independent candidate.

To suggest that this election will be a mandate on Abe's NPP, foreign policy, secrecy bill, the limits of collective defense and let's not forget Abe's decision to export weaponry and his most daring stunt, reinterpretation of article 9, is to abandon reality.

And let's not forget Abenomics. Yes. Abe, if he decides to dissolute, is asking the public to rate his performance for the last two years as well as their approval to lead Japan for another 4 years. It's really this simple.

.

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Secondly, elected officials are unable to vote their conscious in any way as the party leaders dictate to EVERY member what their vote will be. This has been clearly demonstrated over and over with the most notable being that of the so-called "postal rebels" of 2005. Then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided, before calling an election, that he would not give official party endorsement to 37 members of his party who voted against the postal bills; that is, the 37 (rebels) were not allowed to run as members of the party as they had not toed-the-party-line with most running as independents and a handful joining opposition parties.

I don't actually see a problem with that. If politicians don't agree with the policies of the party they belong to, they should either make a leadership challenge, leave it and join another one or be independent. Then they can vote any way they like. Of course parties should try to build consensus but at the end of the day the party members choose their own leaders democratically and once they have done so they should tow the line.

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Simon Foston Nov. 15, 2014 - 07:33PM JST

I don't actually see a problem with that. If politicians don't agree with the policies of the party they belong to, they should either make a leadership challenge, leave it and join another one or be independent. Then they can vote any way they like. Of course parties should try to build consensus but at the end of the day the party members choose their own leaders democratically and once they have done so they should tow the line.

Then Japan is a plutocracy, not a democracy if your elected representative's only purpose is to give the leadership the most members and therefore overall control, your representative is just a rubber stamp or in other-words a puppet, NOT a representitive. If that's what people want then fine but Japanese don't have a choice in the matter because the political system is rigged to protect the political elite and should you rattle the cage in any way, it's lights out. Sure individuals can leave the party but that in almost every case is suicidal as the party will come after you with all guns drawn, send assassin candidates, as Koizumi had done, and probably have the public prosecutors office dig through all your political, social and private matters to find any dirt to bring you down.

And by the way nigelboy, it was Prime Minister Koizumi who unilaterally made the decision to field assassin candidates as well as throw the 37 postal rebels off the party ticket. He also forced out former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyasawa and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone from running on the party ticket by imposing an age limit of 73 for LDP political candidates and had privately urged both men to retire. This ended the political careers of both former prime ministers and was widely seen as an attack by Junichiro Koizumi on the old guard LDP leadership.

And for aguments sake lets take the 1.988 voter disparity. Is that anything to flaunt and to support your conclussion that there is equal representation in elections and that the results accurately covey the will of the people. That is 2:1 by your figures which completely gives a clear advantage to Juminto (LDP) and they would like to keep it that way.

nigelboy

And let's not forget Abenomics. Yes. Abe, if he decides to dissolute, is asking the public to rate his performance for the last two years as well as their approval to lead Japan for another 4 years. It's really this simple.

Yeah right and by your line of thinking when Cuba holds it's next presidential election Raúl Castro can say that he has a mandate too as he won hands down (on a ballot with only his name on it).

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Then Japan is a plutocracy, not a democracy if your elected representative's only purpose is to give the leadership the most members and therefore overall control, your representative is just a rubber stamp or in other-words a puppet, NOT a representitive.

Right, but the party members do choose the leaders themselves in internal elections, and the leaders frequently have to step down when they ruffle too many feathers and annoy either enough of the grandees or the rank-and-file. That might the case with Abe if his sliding poll ratings make enough LDP politicians start to get nervous about their re-election prospects.

Sure individuals can leave the party but that in almost every case is suicidal as the party will come after you with all guns drawn, send assassin candidates, as Koizumi had done, and probably have the public prosecutors office dig through all your political, social and private matters to find any dirt to bring you down.

If it really was suicidal in almost every case there would hardly be any defections or schisms, when in actual fact they tend to be pretty frequent. Admittedly an inexperienced Diet member might find it hard to get re-elected without the support of his or her original party, but there are lots of veteran opposition politicians who have left their parties (in particular the LDP) and survived due to well-established support networks in their constituencies.

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@Andreas ZachcialNOV. 14, 2014 - 07:23PM JST "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have decided to call an early election

In more democratic nations, it's not the Prime Minister or Chancelor wo decides when their is a new election but the parlament and the final say would have the head of the country, which is not Abe but the Emperor. But who am I kidding, Japan is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Andrea: Japanese Emperor is a symbol of Japan. Try to read Japanese Constitution English language version, Constitution prohibitst Emperor involves in politicx and Japanese government include Empror in politics.

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And by the way nigelboy, it was Prime Minister Koizumi who unilaterally made the decision to field assassin candidates as well as throw the 37 postal rebels off the party ticket. He also forced out former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyasawa and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone from running on the party ticket by imposing an age limit of 73 for LDP political candidates and had privately urged both men to retire. This ended the political careers of both former prime ministers and was widely seen as an attack by Junichiro Koizumi on the old guard LDP leadership.

Nope. There is no such power allowed in the constitution. As to the latter, by using the word "urged", the argument itself is weak.

And for aguments sake lets take the 1.988 voter disparity. Is that anything to flaunt and to support your conclussion that there is equal representation in elections and that the results accurately covey the will of the people. That is 2:1 by your figures which completely gives a clear advantage to Juminto (LDP) and they would like to keep it that way.

How?

Yeah right and by your line of thinking when Cuba holds it's next presidential election Raúl Castro can say that he has a mandate too as he won hands down (on a ballot with only his name on it).

??? Wow. What a magical leap.

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Simon Foston Nov. 16, 2014 - 01:02AM JST

Right, but the party members do choose the leaders themselves in internal elections, and the leaders frequently have to step down when they ruffle too many feathers and annoy either enough of the grandees or the rank-and-file. That might the case with Abe if his sliding poll ratings make enough LDP politicians start to get nervous about their re-election prospects.

I mostly agree with your statement but it is the faction elders that give the go ahead and let individuals like Abe and Koizumi take a crack at the prime ministership, and this goes for the DPJ as well. Yeah, the party has an election but the actual decision is made in a posh hotel room with about five faction leaders in attendance who then go back to their factions and let the rank-and-file know who they WILL vote for. these private meetings are widely reported on after and they list each of the participants by name so that really isn't democratic, is it.

And lets not forget the shadow leaders like deceased Kakuei Tanaka aka "Shadow Shogun", Noboru Takeshita aka "the Last Shadow Shogun" and how they earned these notorious titles. And if my memory serves me, Koizumi was a wildcard choice and wasn't expected to get the nod but the old guard, the faction leaders of that time, let him have it as LDP opinion polls were way down and Koizumi was widely popular. And how did Koizumi repay some of these individuals who gave the nod, by retiring them when he imposed the 73 year-old age limit on the general election he called in 2005 which left them the option of running as independents and run against more of the "Koizumi Kids" if they dared.

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These private meetings are widely reported on after and they list each of the participants by name so that really isn't democratic, is it.

Not especially. If Japanese politicians had any spine and integrity they'd either not join such parties or try to change them for the better, but they clearly don't and prefer to play the long game to get a shot at becoming backroom bigwigs themselves.

And how did Koizumi repay some of these individuals who gave the nod, by retiring them when he imposed the 73 year-old age limit on the general election he called in 2005 which left them the option of running as independents and run against more of the "Koizumi Kids" if they dared.

Indeed so - but often I think they did dare, and as often as not they managed to keep their seats due to playing the old jiban-kaban-kanban game so well that their party affiliation wasn't really so much of an issue. I think a lot of the postal rebels held on to their seats in 2006, didn't they?

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Simon Foston Nov. 16, 2014 - 07:28PM JST

I think a lot of the postal rebels held on to their seats in 2006, didn't they?

Yes, I believe they did. but that was in fact due to the postal privatization bill being so unpopular in those rural districts which were widely dependent on the services provided by Japan Post which is why those individuals voted against Koizumi's postal privatization bill in the first place. Koizumi's tactic of sending assassin candidates against these rebels turned out to work for the rebels who claimed to be representing their constituents when they voted against the bill and would continue to fight on their behalf if re-elected. But the fact still remains that Japanese due not have a representative democracy and elections are widely viewed as meaningless and a continuation of the status-quo. When you're dying for some sugar but your choice is between a lemon and lime what can you do but feel bitter!

What's most telling is the responses from registered voters who say they would like to vote out Juminto (LDP) but there are no suitable options or anyone better to do the job. It's an incredible shame that Minshuto (DPJ) wasn't able to pull their act together and show some leadership which the public was so desperately craving. If it hadn't been for Ichiro Ozawa and his infatuation for the prime ministership, which he was willing to destroy the party over, instead of stepping up to the plate and being a statesman and putting party and country above his self-serving ambition and pride I think things could have been different for the country today.

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What's most telling is the responses from registered voters who say they would like to vote out Juminto (LDP) but there are no suitable options or anyone better to do the job.

No argument there. With all this talk of an election coming up all the DPJ are doing is wasting time with stupid no-confidence motions they haven't a chance of getting passed.

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