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On February 7, the House of Representatives started deliberations on the supplementary budget for fiscal 2013. Next Minister of Finance and Next Minister for Financial Services Seiji Maehara was the first to ask questions from the Democratic Party of Japan. Maehara queried Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his recognition regarding issues such as: (1) the necessity of reviewing the internal policies of the Self-Defense Force in response to the incident in which Chinese vessels directed fire-control radar on Japanese vessels; (2) the authenticity of an article in a weekly magazine about the resignation of former Parliamentary Secretary of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Takeshi Tokuda; (3) the historical awareness of PM Abe related to discrepancies in his statements about comfort women before and after his inauguration; (4) the exact reason why the Bank of Japan (BOJ) modified its policies in order to achieve price stabilization targets; and (5) the need to reverse the decline in Japan’s population, a fundamental and structural issue behind deflation.
Concerning his understanding of historical issues, Maehara brought up PM Abe’s remarks in a plenary session of the Diet a few days earlier related to the 1993 statement released by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on comfort women. Maehara said that PM Abe’s “words were strange,” noting that although PM Abe had repeatedly expressed the desire to review the statement before his inauguration, he had stated in the plenary session that “The 1993 statement was issued by a former Chief Cabinet Secretary, and should therefore be handled by the incumbent Chief Cabinet Secretary.”
In response to the question by Maehara, PM Abe answered, “Currently I am Prime Minister of Japan. I understand my responsibility as the person in charge of leading the nation to make considerations for matters that may become political or diplomatic issues, regardless of the truth.” Maehara strongly criticized Prime Minister Abe, stating, “During the recent House of Representatives election, you spoke about this issue as something you wanted to act on after being reappointed Prime Minister. It is hypocritical to relent on such things due to the reason that you are now in that position.”
Concerning the monetary easing policies of the Abe administration, Maehara pointed out that the release of a joint statement calling for a 2% inflation target by the Government and the Bank of Japan is out of line with the way the BOJ has previously conducted business. Pointing out that PM Abe has occasionally indicated his intention of revising the Bank of Japan Act in order to give the bank responsibilities related to inflation targets or employment, Maehara asked PM Abe and BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa if there was the perception in the BOJ that it must agree with the joint statement in order to prevent that revision. Shirakawa denied any differences between the past and present policy stances of the BOJ. Maehara expressed his intention to examine fiscal policies further, stating, “Put positively, this was a change in the stance of the BOJ through the leadership of the Prime Minister; however, put negatively, this could also be seen as a change forced by political pressure. This is how the market sees the situation. It is not a good strategy for the credibility of the yen in the long run. We must secure the functional independence of the BOJ and undertake not only financial policies, but also work to transform the structure and systems of the Japanese economy.”
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