September 04, 2009
Change Nobody Particularly Has Any Faith In
Electing a black man to the presidency might be a new thing to some, but it's not as if it's never happened anywhere before. On the other hand, Japan voting out the Liberal Democratic Party en masse is truly an epic event, breaking 50-years (give or take 11 months) of post-WW2 rule, with a massive 200-seat swing in parliament.
So it turned out that CHANGE in Japan is not just a Kimura J-drama after all. Although one does note that even in a dramatic setting, the unlikely Prime Minister arose out of the ruling party, the black-sheep son of a party elder thrust into the limelight. The opposition party was no more than a prop, utilized for a single episode only. So even the most unlikely dramatic imagination did not allow for the fall of the ruling party. And despite his earnest and sincere efforts, no major initiative was actually passed, although the failure did make for a dramatic final speech, at least. That seems to be the pundit consensus on the fate of the new Japanese government, too, as nobody is all that optimistic about them solving Japan's long-standing structural issues.
Considering how Taiwan always seems to follow Japanese trends, perhaps the DPP can take heart after their recent losses against the KMT. It certainly isn't as if the KMT has done anything to distinguish itself after returning to power. With record unemployment, the start-and-stop commissioning of the new MRT line, and the criminally terrible handling of the Typhoon Morakot disaster, one would think that the common people might consider alternatives, if they haven't been buried in the mudslides.