July 13, 2009 : A Sense of Competition
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
Today the Prime Minister of Japan announced that he had decided to dissolve the Diet and hold a snap election next month.
Just then, I remembered that there had been all kinds of opinions about the dissolution of the Diet.
And this time I finally felt that the time had come.
The time to change the ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for more than fifty years, is coming closer and closer.
I think Japan has been ruled by the same party for such a long, long time.
For this reason, the LDP is said to have ignored the opinions of the people, which is the same reason why Japanese politics are said to be spoiled.
I believe that rivalry is necessary for things to grow.
Unfortunately, Japanese politics has been monopolized for decades, so there is no sense of competition.
So I want the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to win this time, not for its policies, but to introduce a sense of competition into the Japanese political world.
I think if this sense is brought into politics, people living in Japan can live with more relief in the future,
regardless of whether the DPJ's period of government is successful or not,
I strongly believe that the introduction of a sense of competition itself has great significance.