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On August 12, DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama participated in a head-to-head debate with Prime Minister Taro Aso, organised by the Congressional Forum for New Japan (21st Century Rincho). He expressed his resolution to bring about a change of government, stating, “Many Japanese people are calling for change. What lies behind this is a huge feeling of despair toward the long-running [LDP] government. I want to take these calls seriously, and work to create a new kind of politics.”
At the start of the debate, Hatoyama said, “As the challenger, we would like the Japanese people to judge which out of the DPJ and the LDP is concerned about the future of this nation.” He explained that this was the first election in which the electorate could engage in a genuine choice of administrations. Furthermore, he went on to say that the DPJ would change Japan, which has become a haven for wasteful use of tax money by the bureaucracy who have dominated the administration, and for amakudari (golden parachuting by bureaucrats), due to the continuance of long-running LDP government. Hatoyama added that the DPJ would create warm-hearted and warm-blooded policies, rather than cold-hearted policies and policies produced as a result of bureaucrats making calculations at their desks, and by implementing these policies, rebuild Japan.
Hatoyama went on to explain that by in addition to redrafting the entire budget, including 207 trillion yen of special accounts, the DPJ would reduce funding provided to organisations serving as destinations for parachuting bureaucrats, eliminate bureaucratic collusion and waste of tax money, sell national assets, and use money from the “buried treasure” (secret funds possessed by bureaucrats). By doing so, the party would be able to make an adequate response, by prioritising the allocation of such funds to areas where they are most needed, such as child-rearing and education, pensions, medical care and nursing care, and employment.
During the debate, Hatoyama expressed the opinion that the most important point was whether people’s lives had improved during the past four years, and asked Prime Minister Aso for his thoughts on this. Aso responded by citing the success of postal privatisation, but avoided answering whether people’s lives had improved. Hatoyama criticised this lack of response, saying, “People’s lives have got harder during this time. You should start off by apologizing for this.”
Furthermore, Hatoyama pointed out that the LDP policy platform states economic growth will be 2% in the second half of the next financial year, and states the party’s intention to raise consumption tax if the economy recovers, and pressed Aso to make it clear whether he will raise consumption tax from next year. However, the Prime Minister said that the LDP would first “bring about economic recovery” and “create an environment which will make it possible to raise the consumption tax” and refrained from making a definite statement in reply.
In response, Hatoyama said, “A manifesto is a promise to the people” and questioned the ruling parties’ behaviour, saying, “If you cannot realise economic growth of 2% and economic recovery you will have broken your election promise. During the past four years you have increased the government bond balance by 130 trillion yen, and the national burden by 6.4 trillion yen.” He blasted the government’s actions, saying “Your management of national finances has amounted to nothing more than increasing debt and burdens. Japan has ended up deep in debt.”
Hatoyama went on to question Aso as to why a reference to bureaucratic amakudari had been erased from the LDP manifesto just prior to it being announced. The Prime Minister responded defiantly, saying, “That is because we have already banned amakudari.” He further accepted the existence of amakudari since, he claimed, it enabled outstanding human resources to be widely used and bureaucrats’ ability should be used to the full.
In response to a question from the organizers of the debate, Hatoyama said, “We are cooperating with the People’s New Party and the Social Democratic Party in the Diet. We are also engaging in electoral cooperation with them. We are considering a coalition government.” He once more expressed the DPJ’s intention of forming a coalition government should the party force the ruling LDP/Komeito government to lose their majority but not gain enough seats for a simple majority of their own.
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