Corrupted family business?

I have been shocked reading the news these days. I knew these two issues are common in Japanese politics, but I did not know how common.

TOKYO (AFP) March 6 — A political scandal in Japan widened Thursday when government figures, including an influential former premier, said they had taken money linked to a firm whose murky donations have shaken the opposition.

Former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, a heavyweight of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as well as an advisor to Prime Minister Taro Aso and a deputy cabinet minister said they would return funds to political groups linked with the scandal-tainted construction company.

On Tuesday, prosecutors arrested an aide to opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), alleging the aide took illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co. through apparent front groups.

Under Japanese law, companies can donate money only to political parties, not to individual politicians, and donors must be clearly identified.

The scandal has been a blow for the DPJ and Ozawa, who has been seen likely to replace unpopular Aso as premier in elections that must be held before September and could end half a century of almost uninterrupted LDP rule.

But on Thursday the scandal widened to affect the government and LDP.



And who knows how long these connections might have existed?

TOKYO (IHT) March 5 - Since Koizumi left the top job in September 2006, Japan has had three prime ministers, none of them up to the task. Stress did in Shinzo Abe (September 2006-September 2007), political gridlock sank Yasuo Fukuda (September 2007-September 2008) and widespread voter dissatisfaction will soon nudge Taro Aso from power.

Abe, Fukuda and Aso have something important in common: they are part of family dynasties.

It's a key characteristic of Japanese history, from the emperor's 1,400-year lineage to the father-son inheritance of Kabuki theater roles. The cabinet chosen by Aso, the grandson of one former prime minister and the son-in-law of another, fits a similar pattern.

Among Aso's original lineup, descendents of former lawmakers took up 11 of the 17 positions. That beat Fukuda's eight such appointments. Even Koizumi, who in 2005 used outsider candidates to win 68 percent of the seats in the lower house, turned around and gave nine cabinet posts to legislators' relatives.

The penchant for recycling family members is holding Japan back at a time when it needs to be planning for the future. Nothing short of a political earthquake will alter this dynamic.



This was not enough for the prime minister to step down earlier

TOKYO (NYT) December 19, 2008 — The Japanese government has acknowledged for the first time that Allied prisoners during World War II were made to work at a coal mine owned by the family of Prime Minister Taro Aso, contradicting his longstanding denials.



Maybe "a political earthquake" has now started.