Japan under Aso

In fact, no major change has been taking place in Japanese politics since the end of the World War II as the ruling LDP has been fielding leaders one after the other who always line-up for such position. This is a one-party politics for so long with rare or occasional changes. The ruling LDP for the past 53 years, after coming into power, has always acted as the 'political bureaucracy' in Japan that always resisted political changes and to maintain the status quo. The party never changed the contents and always preached the old script. It was under Koizumi (2001-06) that party re-gained its ascendancy. However, after his resignation, LDP could not maintain such a momentum and plunged into continuous chaos. It is also a test time for Aso that how he is going to improve the ranks and files of the LDP and restore public confidence, which the party perpetually lost in wake of a number of political and financial crises and scandals.

Aso needs the strength to that of Koizumi and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (1982-87) in order to revitalise the party. This also means that Aso needs to be an economic reformer and a hawk to tackle the fast changing geo-strategic environment surrounding Japan. In reality both Koizumi and Nakasone were hawkish. How much strength Aso will gain or display, needs to be seen within weeks or months. Mere presidential changes within the LDP will not help the party. The leading newspaper, Asahi Shimbun (September 23), put it as follows: "Unless it [LDP] addresses these concerns and questions among voters head-on, the LDP cannot hope to regain strength, no matter how many times it may change its leader." There is a need to change the contents and substance and not the heads. Let's see, how LDP leadership will endorse such thinking within a short time.

With all abrupt political changes, Japan is the oldest and the lead democracy in Asia along with its own fashion and style. Longevity has never been a tradition of Japanese politics. Apart from the seven oligarchs who monopolised the position of the prime minister during the Meiji (1885-1912) and the early Taisho period (1913-1927), the average tenure of the Japanese prime ministers has been two years. The longest serving prime minister was Katsura Tarô, almost twelve years in office, followed by the first Prime Minister Itô Hirobumi (1885-1888, 1892-1896, and 1889-1889), who remained in office for seven years and two months. Moreover, parliamentary party politics is also a late starter in Japan which did not formally start until 1925; hitherto the Friends of Constitutional Government and on several occasions, military, formed the representative government after 1885. During 1945-55, Liberals, Democrats, or Socialists had formed the governments.

After the formation of the LDP in 1955, it ruled Japan up to 1993 without any break. During 1993-96 three different parties namely; Japan New Party under Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, Renewal Party under Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, and Japan Socialist party under Tomiichi Murayama, formed the governments. However, after 1996, LDP once again tightened its grip and has been forming the governments, albeit with frequent changes particularly since 2006.