Can Mr. Kan Save Japan?

From The American Enterprise Institute:

Can Mr. Kan Save Japan? By Michael Auslin

Wall Street Journal Asia

Thursday, July 1, 2010











Has Japan entered its "Kan do" era? That's certainly the hope of the struggling Democratic Party of Japan at the ascension to power of Naoto Kan as prime minister after the disastrous run of Yukio Hatoyama. Mr. Kan has a rocky road ahead. He must repair strained relations with the United States, restore the public's trust in the DPJ, and craft policies to restore economic health to a country that is still suffering from deflation. Whether he succeeds or fails may well seal the fate not only of the DPJ to maintain its legitimacy, but also of Japan to pull out of its current malaise.



A visit to DPJ headquarters this week and discussions with top party officials makes it clear that those inside the party still believe in its mission and their ability to create a new Japan. Yet my conversations show equally that the party must do more to turn its vision into reality through concrete policies. The party's new manifesto, issued this month, moves beyond the vaguer pronouncements of the seminal electoral manifesto of last summer, but still lacks the specifics needed to turn aspirations into policy.



Above all else, the DPJ wants to purge the party of the influence of campaign cash and to end Japan's deflationary environment. It is telling, perhaps, that money, both as the root of all evil and as the reflection on the weak economy, is the major policy challenge. The DPJ swept into power last August promising to end the culture of corruption fostered by the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party and pull Japan out its two decade-long economic slump. So far, money politics has claimed the first DPJ premier and has continued to drag down the economy. . . .



This article is available by subscription from the Wall Street Journal Asia. The full text will be posted to AEI.org on Tuesday, July 6.



Michael Auslin is a resident scholar at AEI.