Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Komeito supporters as political pawns,
This chapter discusses politics, democracy and political processes as an
engagement that seldom presents itself with clear-cut, win-win solutions.
What stands out is the extent to which compromises, for better or worse, are
driven by wanting to procure ideals. I discuss how young Komeito supporters
experienced pragmatism in the era of coalition politics.
In June 2004, a few months before an Upper House election, the political
magazine Sekai devoted most of its articles to discussing Soka Gakkai and
Komeito. Sekai is an academic, left-leaning monthly magazine, which appeals
to a particular section of the population. When I got hold of a copy, in the
Soka University library, it was after having queued up for it; SU students
must have wanted to read what was written about them. The general message
of these articles, some 40 pages in all, was that Soka Gakkai members had
increased their liking for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the reason why
they were now cooperating with the right. Indeed, at
first glance supporters
seemed willing to lend their electoral support to a given LDP candidate in
areas where there was no Komeito candidate standing. Could we then inter-
pret this political pragmatism as Komeito supporters aligning their beliefs
with the LDP
s generally more conservative agenda? This was set against a
political situation in which the unequal but seemingly necessary relationship
with Japan
'
s security partner, the USA, had been highlighted in the face of
uncertain threats from North Korea. A general sense of necessity but also
dissatisfaction followed the inevitable request a year earlier from the USA
that Japan support the US-British-led invasion of Iraq. Japan was bound to
follow the request of the USA, and little protest characterised media debates
or the streets. On the other hand, the debates leading up to the dispatch of
Japanese Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to Iraq in later 2003 and early 2004 saw
the development of debates about geo-political dynamics that were more cri-
tical than any debate about the invasion itself, even though these troops were
only going to Iraq for humanitarian purposes. This engendered discussions
about the Constitution
'
s Article 9, a topic that had publicly taken on such
intensity before. Because of this article, which states that the Japanese
'
forever
renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force
as means of settling international disputes
'
'
'
, Japan
is post-war constitution is
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