Japan Future Party Leader Kada Says She Will Split the Party by Year's End

(UPDATE) Jiji Tsushin reports (12/27/2012) that it's been decided by the deputy leader of the party Tetsunari Iida and Mr. Ichiro Ozawa that Mr. Ozawa's followers in the party, 15 of them including the Upper House councilors, will leave the party. Ms. Kada will have one Upper House councilor (she left Social Democratic Party to join Ms. Kada's party), but according to Jiji, Ms. Kada says her group will retain the name of the party and the party logo. Which means her party with only one elected official will receive all the government subsidy money for political parties, and Mr. Ozawa's new party, when he or his followers formally announces the formation, will have none. Good deal for Ms. Kada. What a joke.

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So much for her pre-election talk of her being capable of "taming and controlling Mr. Ichiro Ozawa".

Faced with the opposition to her dictatorial ways of running the party ("No dissent allowed", said Ms. Kada), the leader of the "graduating from nuclear" party now says she will split the party by the year end, so that she and her small and mostly unelected party leaders will have their own way (while probably keeping the political party subsidy from the national government - taxpayers' money), and Mr. Ozawa's followers their own way by forming a new party (thus losing the subsidy even though they are the vast majority in the party).

After having no action, no comment from her after the disastrous election on December 16 when only 9 candidates managed to hold their seats while all of her own candidates lost, the first official political act by Ms. Yukiko Kada, the leader of the party that anti-nuclear Japanese citizens had pegged so much hope on, is to split the party.

Again, as with many instances since the election, she spoke to the press, without bothering to speak first to her party members, whom she apparently considered to be plotting a coup d'etat against her for daring to oppose her unilateral decision on party appointments.

The run-up to the meeting, and what transpired after the meeting, suggest that seasoned politicians with influence like Mr. Shizuka Kamei and Mr. Ichiro Ozawa made a grievous mistake joining her. So much so that Mr. Kamei has already decided to leave the party.

By the way, on December 26, the Shiga prefectural assembly passed the non-binding resolution demanding her to choose between the governorship and the party leadership. Ms. Kada's answer is that she will continue to hold both positions, as the resolution is non-binding. There was a talk of a binding resolution (no confidence), but the parties in the assembly decided to tone it down for some reason.

There are some who say Mr. Ozawa has lost his touch for having chosen her. I have been wondering why he, and for that matter Ms. Kada, decided to form a political party whose only distinct platform is "graduating from nuclear". (The rest of their so-called policies look no different from those of DPJ or LDP.) My feeling is that they were blinded by the supposedly overwhelming support for their position on the Internet. They themselves don't look to be particularly Internet-savvy but their lieutenants most likely are.

As usual (since March 11, 2011), there are die-hard online fans of the party, accusing anyone who dare criticize their dear leader (in this case Ms. Kada) who has promised she will take them to the post-nuclear Japan in 10 years.

"Fool me n-th time, shame on you", they would say to infinity.

(Links are in Japanese.)

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Japan Future Party Leader Kada Says She Will Work With Japan Restoration Party's Toru Hashimoto

She says she has worked closely with Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto, aka boy-wonder in this blog, and she will continue to do so in the national politics.

All right, very well said, Ms. Kada. People who are concerned about nuclear plants, radiation contamination, excessive power of the government, TPP, tax increase, tampering with the Constitution can now ditch your party without feeling bad.

So much for that "graduating from nuclear" slogan.

Also, she clearly wants to run for the Upper House and continue to receive salary as the governor of Shiga Prefecture.　The first thing she would therefore "amend" is Local Autonomy Law established in the same year as the Constitution, in 1947.

From Asahi Shinbun, reporting her words to the reporters in Tokyo (12/17/2012):

「橋下さんと共同行動、十分にある」嘉田・未来代表

"It is very likely that I will cooperate with Mr. Hashimoto", says Japan Future Party leader Kada

　知事と国会議員を兼務できないのは戦後、地方自治法をアメリカから輸入したから。フランスはもともと兼務が大前提。ドイツも（含め）ヨーロッパ型は地方の知事や市長が参議院を兼務するのは当然です。地方の声があがるから、政策も実行力のあるものができる。

The reason why a governor cannot also be a representative in the National Diet is simply because of the Local Autonomy Law imported from the United States after the World War II. In France, holding two offices concurrently is the principle. European systems including that of Germany allow local governors and mayors to be the members of the Upper House, as a matter of course. [National] government policies will become more actionable when the voices from the local government are reflected in the policies.


　今回、（日本維新の会代表代行の）橋下（徹）さんが「参議院との兼務を法律改正せえ」と（言った）。橋下さんと一緒に訴えていきたい。滋賀県民のみなさんに理解してほしいのは、県をおざなりにしているのではなく、よりよい県政をやるために提案をする。無駄遣い、縦割り、効率の悪い行政を押しつけられている。（橋下さんとは）今までも関西広域連合でずっと一緒にやってきた。（国政でも）共同行動をとることは十分にある。

In this election, Mr. (Toru) Hashimoto (Deputy Leader of Japan Restoration Party said) "Change the law that restricts concurrent serving in the Upper House." I will campaign for that change, together with Mr. Hashimoto. What I want the residents of Shiga Prefecture to understand is that I am not neglecting the prefecture. I will make suggestions [to the national government] for better government in Shiga. We are forced to operate with wasteful spending, vertical organizational structure and inefficiency. I have worked with (Mr. Hashimoto) for a long time in the Kansai Wide-Area Alliance [supra-prefectural body made of mayors and governors in Kansai]. It is very likely that I will cooperate with Mr. Hashimoto (in the national politics).

European readers, is she correct? Are your governors and mayors also your upper-house councilors?

It's really ironic of her to speak of "waste", when I recall it was her who cut the funding for the fixed stations that monitored radioactive materials and radiation levels because they were "wasteful".

Now that the alliance with Ichiro Ozawa has gone nowhere in the election, she is renewing the overture to the boy wonder.

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Election in Japan: Nippon Future Party Leader Disappoints

Ms. Yukiko Kada's party is not doing well. Some blame the media coverage, but actually the media has given more than the usual coverage of her party than even that of the existing parties like Komei Party. I'm afraid it has more to do with her and her rather tone-deaf campaign style so far.

Mr. Tetsunari Iida as the deputy party leader is not helping either. He was squarely, solely responsible for the debacle on the day of submission of the list of party candidates when the party almost missed (technically it did miss, by 10 seconds) the deadline to submit the list of candidates because of the last-minute change that Mr. Iida demanded. It was a very bad PR for the party, and one of the party members seen crying on camera didn't help. The whole incident confirmed the suspicion held by many that they were rank amateurs.

Articles I found yesterday indicate to me that Mr. Kada, despite her being the governor of Shiga Prefecture, is one of the amateurs of the party, out of sync, out of step even with her party's candidate.

Sponichi (12/7/2012) says Ms. Kada was at the side of Ms. Yukiko Miyake, who is putting up a good fight to defeat Prime Minister Noda in his Chiba 4th District (Funabashi City, Chiba). But what did she do to help Ms. Miyake? Nothing. After ms. Miyake spoke, with sharp attacks on PM Noda, It was Ms. Kada's turn. But Ms. Kada mentioned Mr. Noda only once in her speech in connection with the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant (she approved of the restart anyway) , and toward the end she started to peddle her book. "All I talked about today is in this book", she said, whipping out her book titled "What a governor can do". She recommended the audience to go ahead and buy the book and read it. Then she handed the book to Ms. Miyake, and left in a car. Huh?

In the same event in Funabashi City, Ms. Kada also said the following, according to Sankei Shinbun (12/6/2012): "I'm heartbroken." Why? Because the poll numbers for her party reported by the media are low. So her party does not have a system to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign and is relying on the mass media's numbers. And to say she was heartbroken (depressed, dejected, disheartened, etc.) in a speech that was supposed to support and encourage Ms. Miyake on to fight the prime minister of Japan, what was she thinking?

Finally, not all people in Shiga Prefecture are happy about their governor spending time campaigning on their dime (or yen). According to Yomiuri Shinbun (12/6/2012), Mayor of Hikone City has filed a "resident audit request to local government authority", demanding the prefecture halt salary payment to Ms. Kada while she's campaigning. According to the Hikone City Mayor, Ms. Kada didn't come to work from December 4 to 6 as she campaigned elsewhere. "To pay from the taxpayers' money in Shiga to the governor who is campaigning for a particular political party while the Shiga residents' political views vary is clearly illegal", says the mayor.

To this, Ms. Kada responded: "The resident audit request is invalid, because the governorship is a special position in the government service, and there is no set number of work hours like the regular government employees."

Her argument is strange. It is true that the governors are not bound by obligation to work certain number of hours, but that does not mean they are free to do anything they like. In fact, the law only says they are not punished for working less hours, or not rewarded for working more hours. Governors are paid by taxpayers' money to be governors 24/7, always ready to work as the governors of the prefectures.

Apparently not to her, and not to the governor of Osaka, who, as the sidekick to the boy wonder, has been working the struggling campaign for his party (Japan Restoration Party).

Here's Ms. Kada's party's campaign CM. Very weak. Silly music. Portraying nuclear and tax issues as if they were just the matter of clicking buttons on the net.

So far, it seems like the decision by Mr. Ichiro Ozawa and Mr. Shizuka Kamei to join her party may end up destroying their own bases in the election.

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Ms. Kada's New Party (Japan's Future) Would Allow Nuke Plant Restarts As Long As They Are Deemed "Safe and Necessary" by the Government

(Update) She "clarified" her comments in the afternoon. According to Asahi, she said she had simply outlined the procedure for the restart in her morning comment.

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From Asahi Shinbun (12/1/2012):

未来・嘉田代表、原発の再稼働容認「安全性担保なら」

Mirai's President Kada would allow restart of nuclear power plants "if safety is secured"

日本未来の党代表の嘉田由紀子滋賀県知事は１日午前のテレビ番組で、原発の再稼働について「原子力規制庁が安全性を担保し、必要という判断を政府がした場合には再稼働になる」と話し、条件を満たせば再稼働を容認することもあるとの考えを示した。

President of Japan's Future Party　(Nippon Mirai) and Governor of Shiga Prefecture Yukiko Kada said in a TV program in the morning of December 1 that the restart of nuclear power plants "would happen if the Nuclear Regulatory Agency ensures safety and if the government makes the decision that the restart is necessary", indicating she may allow the restart if these conditions are met.

また、嘉田代表は「安全基準があれば動かしたらいいだろうと理屈では正しそうだが、われわれはゴミをこれ以上増やさない」とも述べ、使用済み核燃料の総量規制の必要性を強調した。

Ms. Kada also said, "It sounds reasonable to restart [nuclear power plants] if there are safety standards, but we will not increase [nuclear] waste any more", emphasizing the necessity to control the total amount of spent nuclear fuel.

If we recall, Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was inspected by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and deemed safe and secure. NISA was abolished and Nuclear Regulatory Agency has been created, but even the new agency cannot protect nuclear power plants from earthquakes and tsunamis. Besides, none of the deficiencies

I can almost guarantee that my tweet of this Asahi article will have very few retweets by my Japanese followers. No one wants to hear a bad piece of news that may damage their hopes and dreams of bright nuclear-free future of Japan.

Well, this is interesting. Just yesterday when I accessed Ms. Kada's party site, there was a manifesto with six major policies. Now that's gone. Instead, there is one sentence telling us her party will announce the manifesto on December 2. (Shame on me for not copying yesterday's page...)

Meanwhile, Mr. Taro Yamamoto, 38-year-old actor turned anti-nuclear activist who has been pressing for protecting children from radiation contamination, has decided to run for office, either as an independent or by forming his own party. He will hold a press conference at 5PM on December 1.

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Japanese Politics: Less Than 3 Weeks to Voting, a New Party Is Capturing the Hearts of Anti-Nuclear Citizens

The Japanese love hopium, and no amount of radioactive cesium would change that.

What kind of hopium this time? Bright future for Japan of course.

What future? you may ask.　Let's see...

「卒原発（脱原発）」 - graduate from nuclear power
「活女性、こども」 - happy women and children
「守暮らし」 - protect people's living
「脱増税」 - move away from tax increase
「脱官僚」 - move away from bureaucrats
「誇外交」 - proud foreign policy

What are they? They are the 6 key policies of the new party headed by the female governor of Shiga Prefecture (pictured below, right) which have been rapidly joined by just about every minor political parties except for Japan Communist Party, Social Democratic Party, and New Japan.

If you read Japanese, you see that they use a peculiar way of creating the word. It's almost like the word order for Chinese. I don't even know how to pronounce the second, third, and sixth policies. (Boy do I smell a PR agency...)

Even Mr. Ozawa's party, People's Living First Party, have quickly dissolved itself and eagerly joined Ms. Yukiko Kada's new party, named "日本未来の党" (Japan's Future Party; my translation not their official English name).

Japan's Future Party. For the future where everyone will be able to have hope. (So says the card Ms. Kada is holding in the photo above.)

With less than 3 weeks to the election, politicians have been scrambling to get organized and get some traction with the voters. Almost all of them were caught off guard by Prime Minister Noda's declaration on November 14 that he would dissolve the Lower House and call the election on December 16, one-year anniversary of his declaration of "cold shutdown state".

I don't know anything about Ms. Kada, other than she was a scholar and university researcher before she became the governor of Shiga Prefecture in western Japan (Kansai region). In the news earlier this year, she made a minor news headline when she said she had had no choice but to say yes to the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant because of the pressure from local businesses in Shiga Prefecture who were afraid of potential damage from the rolling blackout.

When I first saw her photo, I thought she was the mayor of Yokohama City who couldn't pass up a bargain of cheap domestic beef after March 11, 2011 and kept feeding school children with her bargain meat. That's not a very good association, but that's what I thought on seeing the photo.

Anti-nuclear people, particularly women, are excited. Now there is an anti-nuclear, "third" party! instead of the boy-wonder's party (the boy-wonder did suddenly declare he was for moving away from nuclear power). And it's headed by a woman! Future, the bright future!

So they dream on, gazing into distance expectantly (just like Panasonic's homepage photo), while ignoring things like:

• Highly contaminated dirt on the roadside in Kanto and Tohoku;

• Food contaminated with radioactive cesium sold all over Japan;

• Refugees from the nuclear accident still living in an abandoned high school building more than 20 months after the accident;

• Fukushima I Nuke Plant workers continue to get exposed to high radiation, with low pay and no benefit and no free cancer checkups;

• Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident is not "over"; and politically

• Ms. Kada has been an ally of the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City;

• Her party's deputy president will be Tetsunari Iida, who was an advisor to the boy-wonder and who ran for the governorship in Yamaguchi and utterly failed.

Reality? What is that? Reality-based world is so passe and boring, too many details, too much information!

I am disappointed that Mr. Ozawa throws his party behind the dreamy future with this new party without first addressing any of the problems caused by the nuclear accident (and to an equal degree, by the earthquake and tsunami), particularly when it was Mr. Ozawa who had declared that stopping radioactive materials coming out of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and ending the nuclear accident was the first and foremost priority for Japan as a nation, and until that was done, there would be no future for Japan.

Well, he caved, it seems. Ms. Kada says Mr. Ozawa will have no official role in her new party.

Dream on, Japan, as that seems to be about the only thing you can handle.

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I'm reading the details of the six core policies of Japan's Future Party, and I don't think I like the details which include:

• Create the Japanese version of NSC (National Security Council) against terrorism;

• Actively promote free-trade associations;

• Delegate local control of the national government to [unelected] supra-regional political unions [like the one in Kansai]

• 312,000 yen per year subsidy per child [and where does that money come from?]

Their energy policy is nothing but what Mr. Iida has been promoting.

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