Friday, December 31, 2010
Laodicean Politics in Japan-V
In 1886, when the Meiji government took back the power from Tokugawa Shogun, the Japanese bureaucrats began to control Japanese politics. On 14 September 2009, the administrative vice minister regular conference hold the last meeting. This symbolized to end the 123-year-old practice by the Japanese bureaucrats. This regular meeting by top bureaucrats at each ministry and agency usually makes decisions about government policy issues before the LDP cabinet meeting. Therefore, the LDP simply passed these political decisions as Japan’s national policy. Interestingly, National Personnel Authority President Tani Masahito, who opposites to reform national public service system, resigned on 11 September 2009. Since the Democratic Party won the election in August, the nightmare of bureaucrats is just started. Will Japan be changed?