Japan's Prefecture Assembly Chairpersons Want Prime Minister Kan to Resign

The National Association of Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies held its regular meeting on July 27 and passed the resolution demanding Prime Minister Naoto Kan to resign so that the trust in the government is restored.

Uh huh.

From Jiji Tsushin (7/27/2011):

全国都道府県議会議長会（会長・山本教和三重県議会議長）は２７日の定例総会で、東日本大震災で被災した岩手、宮城、福島３県の議長が共同提案した「菅直人首相の退陣を求める緊急決議」を賛成多数で採択した。

The National Association of Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies held its regular meeting on July 27 and passed the resolution by majority demanding Prime Minister Naoto Kan to resign. The resolution was jointly proposed by the chairpersons of the prefectural assemblies in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima which have been hit hard by the March 11 earthquake/tsunami disaster.

　決議では、震災や福島第１原発事故をめぐる首相の言動を「場当たり的な対応、一連の発言や行動は国民の政治に対する信頼を著しく損ねた」などと批判し、早期退陣を求めている。

The resolution criticizes the prime minister over his remarks on the earthquake/tsunami disaster and the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident for his "haphazard response, series of remarks and actions which have greatly impaired the trust of Japanese people in their government" and calls for his early resignation.

Prime Minister Kan shows no sign of resigning any time soon, once he duped the super-naive ex-prime minister Hatoyama and used him to destroy the momentum for the vote of no confidence (which was really set to pass with bi-partisan support). On the contrary, Mr. Kan says he's been so inspired by the win by the Japanese women's soccer team in the World Cup, and that he learned from the team "never to give up".

What's interesting about this mostly ceremonial resolution is that it was jointly proposed by the three prefectures where the national government's money (i.e. Japanese taxpayers' money) will rain in the government's effort to "recover and reconstruct" after the earthquake/tsunami/nuke accident. Fukushima is to become the radiation research capital of the world. Miyagi and Iwate are to become the "food factory" for the rest of Japan, with farming and fishing organized into some corporate structure, with people living in "ecotowns" created by shaving off the top of the mountains so that they are safe from tsunami. A grand vision, and the governors there, particularly the Miyagi governor, are thinking in the similar vein.

But their assembly chairpersons want PM Kan to go. That does not add up, does it? It looks more like another pressure tactic to get more of what they want, which is more money from the national government and sooner.

And if they really think PM Kan and the national government are alone in causing the trust in the government to erode fast in Japan, I don't know what to say.

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