July 2009 to July 2010 - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 170

5 July 2009 to July 2010

The beginning of a new way of politics
in Japan?

The 2009 Lower House election was in many ways a very di erent election

for supporters of Komeito, although the political landscape was to change
again less than a year later in the July 2010 Upper House election. What
became clear for supporters during this period was how consistent, plausible
and

fiscally sound Komeito policies were, although little attention was paid to
this in the mass media. Leading up to the August 2009 Lower House election
the media, in fact, made little e ort to scrutinise the feasibility of Minshut -

s
(the Democratic Party of Japan, DPJ) key policy proposals. Rather a strong
public antipathy (hankan) towards the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) pre-
vailed, increasingly driven by a new, exciting slogan of seiken k - tai (change of
government). Indeed, it was an incredible change of circumstances. Although
the LDP had needed coalition partners to maintain power over the last
decade and a half, it had as late as September 2005 secured a resounding
victory when it won over 300 seats in the Lower House. By the 2009 Lower
House election its grassroots support had clearly weakened, something that
began in 2007 partly as the media began linking the previously favoured
structural reforms of former Prime Minister Koizumi to rising inequality. The
extent to which increasing economic disparities were only a direct outcome of
these reforms may be questionable but an increasing number of people were
facing economic hardship and unemployment. The LDP and its coalition
partner Komeito lost power to the now hugely popular Minshut -

'

in an historic

change of power.
With three wavering LDP prime ministers following Koizumi in quick
succession in as many years, the 2009 general election was arguably more
than anything a contest about leadership: who was best suited to improve the
economy and employment. Despite his positive handling of the economic
crisis that began so abruptly in September 2008 with the crash of Lehman
Brothers, the public mood had turned against Prime Minister As - Taro. Iro-
nically, had he called for an election as the new head of the LDP in Septem-
ber 2008, as widely expected at the time, the LDP would most likely have kept
its majority. Even as late as that Minshut - had not looked like a party ready
to become the next government despite being in control of the Upper House.
Moreover, had As - called for an election then, he would have been competing