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for a cause gave supporters assurance that it must be the better choice (such
as in the case of sending the SDF to Iraq, for example, or supporting
unseemly LDP candidates). Once, just before the July 2004 Upper House
election, I attended an election rally at a town hall where Hamayotsu was
supposed to be appearing. Since this was a daytime meeting, it was generally
directed at housewives and it was full of what seemed like Soka Gakkai
Women
s Division (WD) members. I travelled to this meeting with three WD
members and they told me that Hamayotsu-san had cancelled her appearance
at the last minute. Rather than being disappointed by this, they cheerfully said
that she was probably very busy now and was needed somewhere else:
'
all of
us [the WD] are supporting her anyway and we have seen her speak before
'
,
was the general sentiment. They were expressing feelings of joint commitment:
Hamayotsu ful
'
lled her role as a politician and they theirs by generating
support for her. These supporters felt close to her, as they felt they were together
striving in their individual capacity for their common objectives of social
welfare and collective good. The relationship with Hamayotsu had been built
over many years and was a relationship of trust based on a deeply held belief
in her sincerity as a politician and in her commitment to the same social
objectives as her supporters. She was seen as a politician who could abstain
from making decisions based on self-interest.
Sometimes Komeito supporters talked about what Ikeda would say about
the situation: was he aware of what was going on, did he support the decisions
of the party? Since they did not hear about him not supporting Komeito, they
presumed that he did. For instance, apart from more general articles and
topics, Ikeda writes a daily message in the form of a poem in the Seikyo
Shinbun, titled To My Friends (Wagatomo ni okuru). Most Soka Gakkai
members read this, and the message often corresponds to what is happening
in the organisation or in society at a given time. After each election, for
instance, a message thanking supporters for their hard work can be found.
Most people will interpret this as referring to the e
orts they made on behalf
of Komeito. In this way, if Ikeda was believed to be supporting Komeito, they
could trust that Ikeda also believed Komeito politicians were likely to be
trying to do the best they could, although the outcome was not always exactly
what they would have ideally wished for. To outsiders such trust may appear
as if Ikeda receives too much adoration, or as fostering obedient followers.
However, such connections of trust have been established over many years of
observing Ikeda
is behaviour in the organisation. There is little to indicate that
Ikeda has or wants any decision-making power in Komeito, or that Soka
Gakkai top o
'
cials have for that matter, but Ikeda clearly has a strong moral
and philosophical in
uence everywhere also on Komeito politicians. Just as
he is for many young people, also for many Komeito politicians Ikeda is an
inspiration for how to engage with people, participate in society and in poli-
tics. They read about Ikeda
s almost daily meetings with world dignitaries in
the Seikyo Shinbun, which invokes pride in the objectives of their organisation
and inspires them to believe that they, too, can become people who contribute
'
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