Japanese Communist Identifies With Obama

Welcome to a brave, new world. A Japanese blog finds a lot of common ground shared by President Obama and the Japanese Communist Party.

I was searching the articles on how Obama and his policies were perceived in Japan, and up popped this blog. The blog author is a member of the Communist Party in Kochi Prefecture and he is in charge of policy formulation.

"オバマ大統領と日本共産党　経済政策の共通性" [President Obama and Japanese Communist party - Commonality in Economic Policies] (7/29/09, 土佐のまつりごと [Politics in Tosa (old name for Kochi Prefecture)])

The blog post starts with the news headlines of recently announced Manifesto by Japanese Communist Party:

"Communist Party Announces Manifesto, Identifies How To Fund Projects" - Asahi
"Japanese Communist Party Announces Manifesto 'To Eliminate Working-Poor'" - Mainichi Newspaper, 7/28

And here's the opening paragraph of the post:

"Tax cuts for the working class, increased taxation for the rich and big corporations, cut in defense expenditure - public policies to get out of the recession look the same between the capitalist United States and Japanese Communist Party. And we [JCP] are simply talking common sense."

Oh boy. So what's in their Manifesto? Among others,

1. Eliminate the working poor by raising the national minimum wage above 1,000 yen ($10.55)
2. Free medical care for children under 6 and elderly over 75
3. Raise the highest rate for personal income tax
4. Raise tax rates for big corporations
5. Cut defense spending
6. Cut big public works

OK, they sound familiar up to No.4. He seems to think the U.S. is cutting the defense spending under Obama. He is probably looking only at "on budget" spending. The U.S. president is staying the course in Iraq, vastly expanding the Af-Pak front, and may be considering opening a third front (Iran, anyone?). How's that possible with shrinking defense? Also, Obama and Congress are not keen at all on No.6. They want to EXPAND the government projects as the only way out of the recession.

The blog author seems to be cherry-picking somewhat. But what's interesting and instructive is that a Communist Party member gladly identifies himself/his Party with Obama and his policies.

He clearly feels that time is on his and his Party's side. Japan will hold the general election on August 30, and the ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito Party) is expected to lose big to the opposition (Democratic Party of Japan). Japanese Communist Party is expected to significantly increase the number of seats, potentially overtaking New Komeito Party to become the third largest party in Japan.

Names of political parties in Japan are misleading. Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is a centrist to conservative party. Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is liberal in the U.S. sense. DPJ was a coalition of small liberal and socialist parties.

Unlike Europe where the national and continental-wide elections saw the resurgence of nationalists and conservatives, Japan is set to go the U.S. way.

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