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its organ (shomin/seikatsusha no mesen kara). On the other hand, he sup-
ported the coalition with the LDP, as
This is the only way to realise policies.
It is because Komeito is in the coalition that they have been able to realise so
many policies
'
. However, at what cost was unclear to Taka. Was the follow-
up proposal of extending
'
financial help to children through the sixth grade a
good exchange for the LDP getting Komeito to the discussion table about
upgrading the Defence Agency to a ministry? Some later said that this was
bad bargaining power by Komeito (Asahi Shinbun, 12/08/2005). However,
although Taka supported Komeito
s emphasis on welfare, concerning the Iraq
War, he thought it had done too little to show their opposition. At the same
time, he justi
'
ed this by referring to the complex international situation at the
time and the fact that Komeito was still a small political party. Nevertheless,
he was adamant that they must oppose revising Article 9. He was afraid that
if they changed the so-called peace constitution and the role of the SDF too
much, Japan would slide back into militarism.
To change the constitution
may invite big problems and propel the SDF towards militarism
'
…
we had
better leave Article 9 intact, while engaging in writing more speci
claws
about the role of the SDF
, a similar position taken by Komeito.
Keiko, a 20-year-old business student, was representative of another group
of supporters who had at
'
first been less critical of the war, but whose opinion
had changed as the situation in Iraq unfolded. Keiko, who was simulta-
neously doing a degree in education through SU correspondence courses (as
she had failed to get into the Department of Education), began by saying
that:
'
'
It seems the Bush administration has a lot of double standards
. She
continued by elaborating on how she was at
first taken in by the argument
that in order to stabilise and secure peace in the Middle East, Saddam Hus-
sein would have to go, that the USA was doing it in their
fight against ter-
rorism and for peace. If anything, this had been the general sentiment in
Japan at the time. However, that argument looked exceedingly hollow to her
now, as the war seemed to be for the purpose of US interests. For her, it was
now di
cult to support her
rst stance.
Although I cannot see it from the standpoint of the politician, I would
have liked Komeito to have come out in stronger opposition to the war. I
would have liked to see them make more e
orts to try to prevent the war.
Since Komeito joined the coalition government, their opinion seems to
have changed.
(conversation with Keiko, 28/06/2004)
Despite this, she continued to support Komeito for the same reasons as out-
lined above, namely, that in government Komeito was much more in
uential
than as an opposition party. It was clear that the political in
uence while
necessitating compromise was preferred to the years of opposition where few
of Komeito
'
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