Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Without the coalition, Komeito cannot achieve anything. They have to do
more than just stick to their ideals, and to move towards realising any-
thing they have to be part of the government. They have been successful
at that I think.
(conversation with Sachiko, 28/06/2004)
It was clear that most young supporters regarded the coalition with the LDP
as somewhat ideologically problematic and not necessarily permanent, but
bene
cial and necessary for the implementation of desired policies. The fol-
lowing quote also suggests that some of them found it hard to reconcile
practical political gains with how Soka Gakkai previously had been criticised
by the LDP. Mika, who was a Young Women
'
s Division (YWD) executive
leader and administrative staff
member of Soka University spoke to me just
prior to the Lower House election in November 2003:
I don
t particularly want to support the LDP candidate here in Hachioji
as we are being encouraged to do because there is no Komeito candidate.
This LDP guy used to criticise Soka Gakkai some years back so that
feels very strange to suddenly be voting for him. On the other hand, if I
don
'
'
it vote for him it is like giving my vote to the opposition, which I also
don
'
t want to do. So I am asking myself, what should I do?
(conversation with Mika, November 2003)
Such political pragmatism was the rationale for political cooperation with the
LDP, and I did not come across anyone who thought otherwise about the
coalition. Komeito was constantly telling its supporters that the reason for
being in the coalition was to enable it to realise its policies (jitsugenryoku).
Supporters appreciated this but also had their doubts about the various
compromises that seemed necessary to stay in a coalition government. In the
rather sparse media coverage of Komeito
s political objectives, there was
much speculation about whether Komeito was yielding too much to the LDP,
or, on the other hand, exerting too much in
'
uence on the LDP, which as indi-
cated by people like Toshikawa, meant too much in
uence by one religious
group. Comments about Komeito in the media were usually, if not always,
followed by a comment about how Soka Gakkai might react. Soka Gakkai
members who supported Komeito were indeed often asking themselves such
questions.
They had all learned about the ine
ectiveness of being in the opposition, a
position the party, like other opposition parties, had been in for over 40 years.
Contemplating how far they could stretch their ideals in their support for the
party, they keenly felt the political reality and the problematic parameters
within which they had to act. There was a conscious awareness of the com-
promises they were making within the options they thought they had. This
seems similar to Barth
s (1959) discussion of frameworks; these young people
were carefully weighing up the pros and cons of what they saw as existing
'
 
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