In America, former Vice President Dick Cheney is likened to Darth Vader, the menacing Sith lord of Star Wars able to crush his enemies with little more than a hard stare. But beyond the Cheney gaze there isn't much else in Washington politics that resembles the sci-fi classic. If you want to find the kind of twists, turns and intrigue spanning three generations that George Lucas delivers in his space epic, then Japan is the place to look.
The vortex of politics in Tokyo currently swirls around two men. The first, Aso Taro, is Japan's prime minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated power with death star efficiency for almost all of the past half century. The other, Yukio Hatoyama, is leader of a ragtag group of rebels, many of whom, himself included, are outcasts from the LDP and have gathered under the banner of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
After years of hit-and-run tactics they are massing for their final assault.
The two rivals, who have crossed sabers in parliamentary debate--the result was inconclusive--are now limbering up for a contest to see who gets to rule Asia's biggest economy. In August, local pundits predict, Japan's 100 million voters will get the chance to choose whether to give Hatoyama's novice party their first shot at power or let the LDP vaporize them.
Two Bushes in the White House stirred concern of political dynasties hogging power in the U.S. Compared with the Japanese, however, Americans are amateurs when it comes to keeping it in the family. A complex weave of gray ambiguity made Star Wars stand out from the usual fare of the goody versus baddy yarn American moviegoers were used to. The Hatoyama-Aso standoff is the latest act in a saga of alliance and betrayal started by their grandfathers.
A long long time ago, in 1946 to be precise, Hatoyama's father's father, Ichiro Hatoyama, was on the cusp of becoming prime minister in U.S.-occupied Japan. It never happened, however, because Japan's American emperor, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, purged him. Shigeru Yoshida, Aso's granddaddy, took his place. Like the Jedi returning, a decade later Hatoyama, with the help of allies, became the LDP's first president and kicked Yoshida out.
The DPJ leader's younger brother Kunio is still in the LDP. Continue, the intrigue does. On Friday, the younger Hatoyama distanced himself from Aso's dark side. He left his job as minister for internal affairs because of a row over who should run the state-owned postal savings bank. Whatever his reason to quit, his Han Solo act of defiance hurts Aso and helps his brother to rally his forces as the LDP death star nears.
Aso should probably start thinking about an evacuation plan. According to the latest opinion poll published by Japan's leading daily, the Yomiuri, support among the electorate for Hatoyama is at 44%, far ahead of the 33% of voters backing Aso. Yet, Hatoyama isn't the Luke Skywalker of Japanese politics. The nearest the DPJ has to the force-wielding Jedi is Katsuya Okada. Although more popular among the electorate, the party in May rejected him in a leadership contest in favor of the political blue blood of Hatoyama.
Whether his pedigree is enough to blow up Aso and the LDP in an election tussle remains to be seen. Neither man, however, is an imposing figure, and the pair perhaps attests to the dearth of talent that results from hereditary politics. When they do knock heads in the upcoming poll, rather than a furious light-saber duel, it may end up being no more dramatic than an Ewok bar brawl. Perhaps there's something good on at the movies?
Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien's ''The Luxury Strategy.''
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