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time. He was asking why Japan had promised 18 billion yen to Iraq
s recon-
struction when there was not enough to pay its pensioners. Owing to these
problems, Yamada would probably be voting for the opposition party, Min-
shut
-
, as they had some good proposals, although he was apprehensive about
their ability to implement policies; after all, they were inexperienced and had
insu
'
cient connections in politics.
2
Yamada went on to elaborate on Japan
(mukashi wa
yokatta), when people were friendlier, naturally bidding each other
'
s
'
good old days
'
'
good
morning
'
, talking to neighbours, and generally more generous. He continued,
'
I do not trust politicians, because it is di
cult to see what they are up to
'
.He
then delved into how he liked the
style of Prime Minister Tanaka
Kakuei (a famous 1970s prime minister). I was thinking about how Tanaka
was forced to step down because of corruption charges (cf. van Wolferen
1989), but Yamada-san didn
'
samurai
'
'
t seem to mind about that: at least
'
Tanaka-san
knew what was best for Japan
, meaning that in his judgment Tanaka would
never have given so much money in foreign aid when people in Japan did not
have enough. Yamada said he still felt the samurai blood run in his veins, just
like he had seen with Tanaka:
'
…
who knew that focusing on national issues was better for Japan
…
Politicians should have long-term visions to secure old people
s pensions.
How could the current government have money to give billions of yen to the
reconstruction e
'
orts in Iraq while having no money to pay its senior citizens?
(conversation with Yamada, 13/10/2003)
These were among the topical national issues with which he disagreed. At the
same time, voting for Minshut
-
, who was promoting toll-free highways, was
also not ideal, because
Yamada believed
the Japanese truism that what you get free is in fact more expensive. Yamada
had told Nami after the last election that he did vote for Komeito, which was
why I was on my way together with Nami to the second-hand store some
eight months later, just before the July 2004 election, to ask him to consider
voting for Komeito once more. However, although both Nami and I had said
hello to Yamada a few times since Nami bought the washing machine (as we
sometimes went to the shop to buy things), when we arrived this time he was
nowhere to be seen. While
'
Who was supposed to pay for that?
'
fiddling for some 10 minutes with various things
for sale, Nami
finally mustered the courage to ask for Yamada. She was told,
rather rudely, that he no longer worked there and what did she want with him
anyway. At a loss for words, and surely not wanting to say that she had come
to ask him to vote for Komeito, I found myself coming to her rescue, telling
them that since we were in the shop anyway we just wanted to say hello to
Yamada-san who had so kindly helped with an installation of a washing
machine some months earlier. Not completely untrue. Nami drew a sigh of
relief
it was not an easy task this vote canvassing. I bought a Snoopy bag
for my daughter Alexandra and we left the shop.
-
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