Gaming Japanese politics…and government
Posted by ampontan on Saturday, September 8, 2007
JUN OKUMURA HAS AN IMPRESSIVE RESUME that bespeaks a sense of responsibility. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Okumura worked for 30 years in what is now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He also has served as the head of several Japanese governmental agencies and JETRO New York.
In addition, he has a blog called GlobalTalk 21 that most often deals with Japanese political and governmental issues, and sometimes dishes up insider political gossip.
Two of Mr. Okumura’s recent posts, however, have given rise to troubling questions about his perspective in particular and what it might reveal about Japanese governance in general.
The first post is a look at the poll numbers from the Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Kyodo news agency for the public approval rating of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet after the reshuffle at the end of August.
The title of this post is “This is Why We Play the Game”.
The second post is about the politician Takeo Hiranuma. It concludes with the sentence:
“It’s the season of 政局 [seikyoku] (the political game) over 政策 [seisaku] (policy).”
(Note: I added the Romanized pronunciation in brackets. The rest of the sentence, including the words in parentheses, is a direct quote.)
This is puzzling for several reasons.
Mr. Okumura worked in the bureaucracy. The job of bureaucrats is to perform public service to the nation in the sector of their expertise or interest. They perform these civil service jobs regardless of the identity of the persons or party in power; they are supposed to transcend such matters.
Why does a career bureaucrat look at the Cabinet, consisting almost entirely of legislators answerable to the voters of their district, and think “We”?
Why does a career bureaucrat think that the governance of the nation is a “game”?
Politics may be the meretricious stepsister of government, but the proper conduct of political affairs is important because that is the only way to implement policy in a democracy, in which competing blocs promote their beliefs and interests.
People who live in democracies everywhere know without being told that chasing poll numbers is an ignoble political act. The most despised politicians are those who flip-flop on the issues, while the most respected politicians are those who follow principle rather than transitory popularity.
For example, the former American President Ronald Reagan is highly respected by many, but public opinion polls during his eight years in office consistently found that the public was not in favor of some of the policies with which he is most identified. Yet, he won reelection by one of the highest margins in American history.
Why does a career bureaucrat think that poll numbers are the reason “we play the game”?
Mr. Okumura has a degree from Harvard Law and has lived in Canada. The English on his blog is excellent.
Why does he translate seikyoku – or “political conditions” – as “political game”–unless he really means it?
Here are some common Japanese expressions using seikyoku:
Seikyoku ga kinpaku suru. The political situation is tense.
Seikyoku wo tenbo suru. Have a view of the political situation
Seikyoku no antei. The stability of the political situation, or political stability
Do any of these sound like people playing a game?
Two days ago, this site had a post that included a description of conditions at the Foreign Ministry and prefectural (state, province) level in Japan. In some prefectures, thievery of public funds in the form of slush funds and false billing has been rampant for years. More than 300 Foreign Ministry officials were disciplined a few years ago. Several were arrested, and one Japanese diplomat bought artwork for his personal collection with public money.
If some bureaucrats think they are playing a game, do they also think government is a casino and taxpayer funds are house money?
Do not misunderstand. I am not saying–or even implying–that Mr. Okumura is himself involved in such activities, or ever has been.
But it does give rise to the most troubling question of all.
Does an attitude in which bureaucrats think they are the equal of Cabinet members, playing a game whose primary objective is to rack up poll numbers, give us any insight into the reasons for the mismanagement and semi-crisis conditions that have plagued Japanese government and politics for decades?
bender said
bureaucrats think they are the equal of Cabinet members
In a sense, isn’t this true in most democracies? In a democracy, usually, there’s separation of powers, there is euqal power in the administration- which consists of the bureaucracy, the judicial branch and the legislature. I kind of have a sense that in Europe, the bureaucracy is as stable (no spoils system) and powerful as is in Japan. This stability of power seems to be the reason for the no-checked corruption going on in Japan.
I think it’s kind of rare that the legislautre has all the real power and muscle. Like you can recall in the comfort women ordeal. If the admnistration did the same thing, it would have really strained the US-Japan relationship.
izanami said
I’m not sure, but I think Mr. Okumura meant “this is ‘How’ we play the game” rather than “why,” while presenting three examples of “beguiled figures,” a lie, a damned lie and a statistic. And, “we” in the topic refers to human nature in general.
Regarding your second concern, I believe Mr. Okumura employs the word “game” as in a baseball game or 試合 with commitment, seriousness and devotion, as opposed to ゲーム. And of course, the 試合運び is changeable and movable by strategies.
Just my 2 yen.
I’m more concerned by his statement that “Kyodo Tsushin is a wire service and is considered more or less neutral.” I seriously doubt it.
Overthinker said
“bureaucrats think they are the equal of Cabinet members” – nope, their superiors. Read “Yes Minister” and its sequel to find out the real truth….
And yeah, that kyoku is the same as used in 戦局, and it most certainly did not mean anything remotely frivolous back in WW2….