Well, as long as he’s just a strange man on his own, he can get away with talking nonsense, but it’s a different story if he’s brought into the Cabinet.

October 27, 2024

The following is from the serialized dialogue between Tsutsumi Gyo and Kubo Koshi, published in the monthly magazine Hanada.

It went on sale yesterday, from pages 118 to 128.

For all voters heading to the polls today, this article is a crucial read, providing insights that can shape your decisions.

It is a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but also for people worldwide, as the decisions made in Japan’s political arena have far-reaching implications.

Like Hatoyama, Ishiba is also a loopy guy.

It’s like a cabinet of people just clearing out their closets.

Tsutsumi

I never thought the day would come when Shigeru Ishiba would become president and prime minister.

The world is coming to an end, and the LDP is showing the symptoms of its terminal illness.

Looking at the faces of the Cabinet he chose, there are 13 first-time appointees, two reappointments, and four reappointments of ministers who have served in the Cabinet before.

There are a lot of people who are being appointed to the Cabinet for the first time, even though they’re not young.

Many people simmering in the party have been appointed to the Cabinet in large numbers.

It’s like a “clearance sale cabinet.”

To begin with, the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, was the epitome of “clearance sale” (lol).

Kubo

In particular, Seiichiro Murakami, suspended for saying that Abe was a traitor to the nation, is now the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and seems full of energy (lol).

Murakami has a long history of being a Diet member, but he was only appointed to a cabinet position once, 20 years ago, and he has never achieved anything of note.

So to speak, he is the LDP’s “good for nothing.”

I once made a Senryu verse about Murakami like this.

“Insulted a traitor from the greater rice weevil” (laughs).

The greater rice weevil is also known as the rice-eating insect.

In other words, it is a grain-eating insect that devours the national rice stockpile and provisions.

No matter how you look at it, you can’t have someone like this in the Cabinet.

Tsutsumi

The LDP was planning to hold a snap general election. At the same time, the public’s approval rating for the new Cabinet was still high, but according to a survey by Sankei and FNN, the approval rating immediately after the Cabinet was formed was just over 50%.

Even in the Kyodo News poll after the dissolution, the figure was only 46%, so it hasn’t gone up.

Not only is it doubtful that they will have an outright majority, but it may even be in danger of losing its ruling coalition with the LDP and Komeito.

What is more worrying than anything else is that the party is splitting.

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took advantage of the so-called political funding non-disclosure issue to carry out a blatant campaign of punishment against the Abe Faction in an attempt to destroy it.

The targets were the five Abe Faction members: Hiroshige Seko was advised to leave the party, Yasutoshi Nishimura and Hakubun Shimomura had their party membership suspended for one year, and Koichi Hagiuda and Hirokazu Matsuno were suspended from their positions.

Ishiba followed in Kishida’s footsteps and continued to destroy the Abe Faction.

No member of the Abe Faction, which has 98 members, has been appointed to the Cabinet.

It is a very blatant act of retaliation, and it is a far cry from the first words of his victory speech, where he said, “From now on, there will be no sides, and we will work together to create a new Japan.”

It is not all.

Depending on the members who did not report their income, they will not be given official party approval, and even if they are given approval, they will not be allowed to run in the proportional representation section.

It’s a discriminatory personnel move that uses the right to grant official recognition differently.

The way that Kishida and Ishiba are handling the situation is causing a rift in the hearts and minds of the party members.

If they lose the election, how does Ishiba plan to take responsibility?

Editorial

I hope they all resign.

Kubo

No, there’s no way he’ll resign.

The only option is to bring him down and pave the way for a new, more responsible leadership.

A challenge to the Abe line

Tsutsumi

On the final day of the last Diet session, on October 9, the opposition parties submitted a motion of non-confidence against the Cabinet after a debate between the party leaders.

Ishiba managed to kill it with an emergency motion to dissolve the House of Representatives.

Still, if the non-confidence motion had been voted on, a significant number of votes would have gone in favor of the LDP.

Ishiba himself did this once before.

In 1993, the opposition parties submitted a non-confidence motion against the Miyazawa Kiichi administration, and it was passed with a significant number of votes in favor of the LDP.

Ishiba was one of those who voted in favor.

As a result, a general election was held, and the LDP fell far short of a majority, eventually leading to Miyazawa’s resignation and the birth of the Hosokawa Morihiro administration.

The political developments at this time were a one-person show for Ichiro Ozawa.

He created a framework for an eight-party coalition of non-LDP, non-Communist parties. He managed to get Hosokawa Morihiro, the leader of the Japan New Party, which has only a few dozen members, to become prime minister.

Around this time, Ishiba joined the New Party, moving closer to Ozawa.

Kubo

Ishiba, who has now come to power, has taken over from Kishida in his destruction of the Abe Faction, and he is working even harder than Kishida to destroy Abe’s legacy.

His actions seem driven by a relentless desire to avenge himself on Abe, even after his death, and even Abe, who is under the tomb, must be appalled.

People like Kishida and Suga, who voted for Ishiba, probably think of him as a temporary solution, a “hired hand.”

It is similar to how they carried Miki Takeo through the difficult period of the Lockheed scandal, and then, once their role was over, they used Miki as a scapegoat and pulled him down.

However, in the case of Miki, although Tanaka Kakuei was put on trial, the Tanaka Faction was still alive and well.

The conservative mainstream, which had become a hotbed of structural corruption, also resisted any fundamental reform threatening its continued existence.

It was the drama of Miki’s downfall.

But what about Ishiba?

He will likely cling to his position at all costs.

The question is whether the forces that can bring him down will emerge due to the general election.

I think that Kishida and Suga will eventually lose control over Ishiba.

Tsutsumi

Who will be in the driving seat if they decide to bring down Ishiba?

It will be difficult for Takaichi to do it alone, so I’d like her to team up with Kobayashi and get him to bring down Ishiba.

Kubo

Well, those two will have to team up.

The question is whether a force that openly calls itself “anti-mainstream” rather than being vague about being a non-mainstream faction or an opposition faction within the party will emerge.

There’s no point in thinking about circumventing it or gaining some of the benefits, and as a politician, you have to show it through your actions.

Above all, Suga and Kishida set up the Ishiba administration, so unless you do something about those two, this structure won’t collapse.

Tsutsumi

Suga worked with Abe for a long time.

So why did he support Ishiba, even though he knew Abe hated him the most?

Does he support Ishiba, who made a cabinet minister out of a man called a “traitor” to the country and then punished?

What kind of man is Murakami, who made the “traitor comment”?

I know Murakami Masakuni, but I’ve never heard of Murakami Seiichiro.

Kubo

He calls himself a descendant of the Murakami naval clan.

After leaving Tokyo University, he worked as secretary to Kawamoto Toshio, who succeeded the Miki Faction.

Well, as long as he’s just a strange man, he can get away with talking nonsense, but if he’s brought into the Cabinet, that’s a different story.

For Ishiba, Murakami is the ideological pillar of the Cabinet, and he is like a banner of denial of the Abe line.

Ishiba doesn’t dare to turn against Abe, so by bringing Murakami into the Cabinet, he is trying to show a change of course toward anti-Abe and relieve his long-standing resentment toward Abe.

This underhanded and insidious approach is the Ishiba way.

In other words, Ishiba’s decision to welcome Murakami, who made the “traitor” comment, into the Cabinet is equivalent to challenging Abe’s line.

It is not just a matter of personnel or politics.

When I interviewed Yasuhiro Nakasone, he said, “With the Abe administration, the flow of the bad constitutional system that has continued since Yoshida has finally returned to the hands of the mainstream conservatives.”

In other words, it means that we have finally transitioned from the era of American rule, achieved the results of the final settlement of post-war politics, and adopted the way of the international order that Japan has proposed.

It is evident that the leaders of the world’s major developed countries praised Abe’s contribution to international politics. Many world leaders and government officials, including the heads of prominent royal families, attended his state funeral to mourn his untimely death.

However, with the birth of the Ishiba administration, this is being denied in a way tantamount to branding him a “traitor,” and he is about to be overturned entirely.

What’s more, the “main culprit” who brought Ishiba to the position of LDP president is Kishida, a relative of Miyazawa Kiichi, who inherited the bad parts of politics.

In this situation, it’s no wonder that Aso, the grandson who prides himself on inheriting the good parts of Yoshida, is angry.

It is a severe crisis.

At a time when Japan was finally starting to regain its identity as a Japanese nation, a government was born that was reversing this trend completely.

What surprises me is that the conservative camp seems to have almost no understanding of this critical situation.

It is not just a change of government.

If the birth of the Ishiba administration is not accepted as a new “ideological battle,” then the LDP and Japan will collapse.

The conservatives need to fight with all their might, including through magazines.

For the LDP, choosing Ishiba is tantamount to committing suicide.

They can’t afford to treat him lightly, seeing him as just a small fry.

If they don’t see this as a threat, they have no right to talk about conservative politics!

This article continues.