In the historic general election on Aug. 30, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won by a landslide, breaking the half-century lock of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) on power.
DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama is to be voted in as the next prime minister in a special Diet session scheduled for Wednesday, followed by the launch of his new cabinet. With the DPJ's ascendancy, will Japan undergo a sea change in its politics and economic policies?
A?shift from bureaucrat-led to politician-led politics
On Monday, administrative vice ministers held their last meeting under the outgoing government of Prime Minister Taro Aso as the DPJ has pledged to abolish it.
The meetings of the top bureaucrats date back to the establishment of the Cabinet structure around 1886, during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), and have long been the symbol of the nation 's bureaucratic control over decision-making.
The DPJ said in its campaign platform for the Aug. 30 general election that the top bureaucrats' meetings should be abolished so that it can put politicians in charge of decision-making. And Hatoyama has said that the DPJ will "create a new Japan with politician-led politics."
In the incoming DPJ-led administration, the functions the meetings have served are expected to be fulfilled by Cabinet committees, where several Cabinet ministers make final policy adjustments between ministries.
The new National Strategy Bureau will be tasked with reforming what the DPJ says is a slow and inefficient policy-making system that relied heavily on recommendations from bureaucrats. And the bureau, which is directly under the prime minister, will decide on key issues such as national blueprints and budget allocations.
The DPJ will also have a centralized policy-making cabinet to take the place of the dual decision-making structure in the LDP- led administrations, in which budgets or bills must be approved by the ruling parties before sending to the cabinet for endorsement.
But Analysts say that the dual structure is not easy to be eliminated as the DPJ, which commands less than half of the seats in the upper house and is still 12 seats short of holding two- thirds of the lower house, need to form a tripartite coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the People's New Party (PNP) and hold interparty consultations over policy issues.
Changes in economic policies
To stimulate domestic growth, the DPJ plans to realign the nation's budget, generating savings of around 9 trillion yen, which it will then redistribute to the population, particularly young families.
In the general election, the DPJ pledged a child-raising allowance system as a main pillar of its manifesto coupled with such support measures as increasing the lump-sum payment for childbirth and virtually free education in public high schools. And the allowance for children became one of the major focal points of a national election for the first time.
The DPJ said new allowances for children -- 26,000 yen per child of up to middle school age -- will be introduced. If a monthly child-raising allowance of 26,000 yen is paid out, it would be the largest such amount in the world.
The measure, however, lacks the detailed consideration such as increasing the allowance according to the age of children and assisting with educational expenses.
Concerning domestic economic policies, the DPJ will maintain the 5 percent consumption tax rate. But on the premise that the consumption tax revenue will be used exclusively for social welfare purpose and the country's social welfare framework will be drastically reformed, the DPJ says the future tax rate will be decided after it announces how much the rate will be raised and seeks a mandate from voters.
The DPJ says it will review tax deductions based on its policy of providing allowance instead of tax breaks. And tax deductions for spouses and dependents will be abolished or revised.
The DPJ has also promised a higher minimum wage, petrol tax cuts and an end to highway tolls.
There are, however, inconsistencies in DPJ's economic policies.
DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to cut CO2 emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, compared with 8 percent planned by the outgoing administration.
Carbon dioxide emissions are estimated to increase 33.0 percent if the DPJ implements its key policy of abolishing expressway tolls, said the land ministry Tuesday.
The incompatibility of emissions cut with petrol tax cuts and an end to expressway tolls points to a potential challenge the DPJ will be faced with in the future implementation of its policies.
(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2009)
