Drawing on Masayuki Takayama’s essay, this article compares historical aircraft disasters to the Democratic Party’s three-year rule, arguing that its policies inflicted long-lasting damage on Japan’s economy, energy strategy, and national foundations.

The Democratic Party That Ruined Japan in Three Years — A Machine of Lasting Misfortune
2017-02-14

The following is from the final chapter of an essay by Masayuki Takayama, the one and only journalist in the postwar world, published at the beginning of the March issue of the monthly magazine Seiron.
Emphasis in the text is mine.
[Omitted preceding text]

The Douglas DC-3 aircraft was, without question, a masterpiece.
Few aircraft were so highly regarded for safety and reliability, but the later DC series was disastrous.
The DC-8, beloved by Japan Airlines, crashed in New Delhi, Moscow, and Kuala Lumpur, accelerating the airline’s own decline. It was almost a bringer of plague. The subsequent DC-10 was even worse.
Kiichi Miyazawa’s daughter was working as a Lufthansa flight attendant at the time of that aircraft’s debut and said she had a bad premonition.
The DC-10 flew with a slightly raised nose even in cruising flight. The abnormal posture never felt right, so she quit. That was the correct decision.
This aircraft had a tendency for its cargo doors to blow off, causing the passenger cabin floor to collapse, and eventually a Turkish Airlines aircraft of the same model crashed in Paris, killing 346 people.
The final major accident occurred in May 1979 at Chicago O’Hare Airport, when one engine fell off during takeoff, the plane flipped over, and 271 people were killed instantly.
With that, Douglas finally went bankrupt, and its name no longer remains.
DC-10 aircraft now prolong their lives as cargo planes that it would not matter if they crashed.
Meanwhile, in July 2000, the supersonic passenger jet Concorde crashed in Paris, and that famous aircraft was regretfully forced out of service.
The cause was a small piece of metal left on the runway, which tore the Concorde’s tire, sending fragments into the wing, causing a fuel leak and ignition.
Which aircraft dropped it?
An investigation revealed it came from a DC-10 operated by Continental Airlines that was still flying at the time.
Like the DC-10, there are many things in this world that continue to bring misfortune indefinitely.
The Democratic Party, which ruined Japan in three years, seems to be one of them.
The consumption tax they left behind alone caused Japan’s economy to stumble, and the embers are still smoldering.
The nuclear power regulations imposed by Naoto Kan shattered Japan’s energy policy and even destroyed the fast breeder reactor program.
After making the petty move of changing their name to the Democratic Party for the People and the like, the first thing they set out to do was to strip weight from Japanese nationality itself.
And now once again, some runt like trash left on the runway says he will follow the Communist Party that seeks to abolish the Imperial system and carry out a revolution.
If you are going to fall, then fall alone.
Do not drag the Japanese people down with you.