Japan on the brink of a new era

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KH29Dh01.html

By Kosuke Takahashi

TOKYO - History sometimes throws up wonderful ironies: in Japan, a rising grandson is about to destroy his grandfather's legacy.

With opinion polls suggesting a massive victory for his opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Sunday's general election, Yukio Hatoyama is poised to become the next prime minister, replacing Taro Aso. This would mark a fundamental change of power in the country, ending the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP's) near-perpetual one-party dominance since Hatoyama's grandfather Ichiro created the LDP in 1955.

The number 320 is the key for this election. Should the DPJ secure a more than two-thirds majority, or 320 seats out of the 480 up for election, it would enable the DPJ to enact any legislation rejected by the Upper House, where the party still lacks a single-party majority. This Sunday, a total of 1,374 candidates will vie for the 480 Lower House seats - 300 for single-seat districts and 180 for proportional-representation constituencies.

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Blue-blood politician

The 177-centimeter-tall Hatoyama, 62, conjures up an image of silk stockings and silver spoons among the Japanese public. He is a scion of the country's wealthiest and most politically influential family, which has been nicknamed "Japan's Kennedys" by local media.

Hatoyama is a fourth-generation politician. His paternal great-grandfather Kazuo was speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan's Diet (parliament) from 1896 to 1897 in the Meiji era. Subsequently, Kazuo also served as vice minister of foreign affairs and as president of Waseda University, one of Japan's top universities.

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Man of the people

Despite his wealth and privilege, Hatoyama is trying to position himself politically as a man of the people ahead of the election, for example, by often talking about weakening the culture of hereditary politicians in Japan, which is in his party's election manifesto. Yet when Hatoyama speaks Japanese, he invokes particular honorifics that most people seldom use in their daily lives, highlighting his prestigious upbringing.

Hatoyama says he aims to implement the political philosophy of European integrationist Count Coudenhove-Kalergi. In an essay in the September edition of the monthly magazine Voice published August 10, Hatoyama said the philosophy of yuai or "fraternity", translated by his grandfather Ichiro, from Coudenhove-Kalergi's writings, is his policy platform, which is geared towards weakening Japan's bureaucracy and rejecting the US-led global capitalism that brought about the economic crisis.

With the motto of yuai, Hatoyama says he hopes to leave behind parochial nationalism and jingoism and instead further develop the East Asian Community to the extent that it resembles an Asian version of the European Union. He also advocates a common Asian currency as a natural extension of the rapid economic growth in the region.

At least one without a go-cart engine.

Have you ever seen a picture of terrorists driving a GM, Ford or Dodge?

Toyota pickups are the choice of terrorists around the world.

Actually it is because they are cheap throw-away vehicles.