Jason’s Random Thoughts

Less than a day after congratulating themselves on the stalling of the Provisional Gas Tax Law, the Democratic Party of Japan have moved on to their next target: Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe.

Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ’s current leader, demanded that Minister Masuzoe apologize to the public and step down from his cabinet post to take responsibility for not fulfilling a government pledge to resolve the farcical pension record issue. Not wasting an opportunity to take a swipe at Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, he goes on to say the PM’s responsibilities were “similarly extremely weighty,” but Masuzoe should claim responsibility for his inabilities first.

The LDP Needs Masuzoe

Despite the continuing issues with Japan’s failing pension system, Minister Masuzoe should not be the one to step down. Unlike most of Fukuda’s cabinet, this man actually knows what he’s talking about and works harder than any other Japanese politician I’ve seen. It seems that we can’t go a single day without seeing him on a news report, updating the Japanese people about the progress of the pension account fiasco, the hospital safety improvements, the changes in welfare or otherwise speaking about the stance held by the LDP on any number of subjects.

The man is a dynamo, the likes of which make other cabinet ministers look bad by comparison. Removing Masuzoe from the cabinet, and perhaps federal politics itself, would cripple the LDP to the point where nobody would even know what the party was doing anymore. It’s bad enough that Prime Minister Fukuda is doing enough damage by not laying out his vision for Japan or setting a clear goal, so losing the hardest working member of the team is completely out of the question.

Though You Point One Finger at Masuzoe, Three Point Back at You

Ozawa followed his father into Japanese politics decades ago and, aside from raising some very good questions in the early 90’s and pointing out the faults and failures in the LDP-dominated Lower House, he never really accomplished much. He has worked on several committees over the years, tackling subjects such as education reform, JSDF jurisdiction, the Japanese Coast Guard and Japan’s role in foreign-lead wars.
Although some of these issues are certainly important, few of them were as complex or involved as the national pension system. Despite my contempt of this financial black hole, I have no qualms with the embattled LDP minister as he’s the only person with the drive and determination to solve the problem with the resources available.

If You’re Not Part of the Solution …

It’s true that the Health, Labor and Welfare Minister promised the citizens of Japan that all 50,000,000 orphaned public pension accounts would be matched with their respective holders by the end of March. It’s also true that, of those accounts, only 4,170,000 (or 8%) have been properly matched with their proper owners. While Mr. Masuzoe may have been a little optimistic about correcting 60 years of poor record keeping and inconsistent storage practices, demanding that he step down when there is nobody else qualified or up to the challenge of taking over this enormous data mining, linking and consolidation mess is tantamount to a form of idiocy beyond what we’ve come to expect from those in power.

A little known fact about Japan’s pension system is Ozawa’s role in its creation. Is the leader of the opposition trying to hide something he is partly responsible for?

The Mark of a Leader

I don’t mind the fact that the Democratic Party of Japan is upset with the lack of progress made in modernizing and correcting the fatal flaws in the pension system, as this is an issue I’m greatly concerned about. If I pay into the system for 35 years, will I get a pension? Will my wife have hers? These are critical questions private citizens need to know sooner rather than later. I don’t mind saving for my retirement, but it would be nice to know ahead of time whether my pension will cover 80% of my monthly expenses, or a fraction of them.

That said, Ozawa is not showing any leadership role in the matter. Employees who bitch and moan about every broken promise or overdue project are rarely promoted to a managerial or supervisory role, so how did this overly pessimistic wishy-washy old stooge become president of the DPJ?

Rather than demand that Masuzoe step down or otherwise walk away from everything he’s accomplished, Ozawa should be politicking like a pro and offering the over-worked minister a little help. Just imagine how much positive PR the DPJ would receive with such a move.

“Ozawa Offers Aid to LDP!”
“DPJ Want To Help!”
“Ozawa Leads Party to Solve National Problems”

It doesn’t take a genius to see how Ichiro Ozawa could make himself look like a real leader or make the LDP appear even less competent than the public already believes.

Maybe one day he’ll realize that he’s part of the problem in the Japanese political system. Then again … maybe not.

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