'People Power' Emerges in Japan

...At a time when big government, symbolized by Tokyo "money politics," is receiving record-low approval ratings, argues Ohmae, the only thing standing in the way of change is a credible alternative...

...There is no reason why we can't get the support of one in 65...

...The ratings will not be linked to voting records, Ohmae explains, "because in Japan, politicians still vote the party line, regardless of their own beliefs...

...The problem with Japanese politics has been that the people never really had a choice," says business-consultantturned-political-activist Ohmae...

...We expect to have 100,000 members early in 1993, and our goal of 1 million members is very realistic...

...Ask them about politics, as we have, and the answer you hear most often is, 'I can't stand it anymore!' "In the first month after we began, 48,000 Japanese thought enough of our ideas to pay the 10,000 yen [about $80] annual membership fee...

...No matter what you've been told, there is an enormous amount of infrastructure spending going on in Japan," he insists, "much of it wasted on things we don't need...

...But when Ohmae and a group of business executives, politicians, former government officials, and academics announced the formation of their citizenbased movement last year, it was greeted with skepticism by the political pros...

...With alerted television and newspaper reporters on hand, the Japanese Santas read "Christmas greetings" that were sarcastic indictments recounting the pork barrel politics of both men in return for "gifts" they had received from favorseekers who included gangsters and ambitious businessmen...

...A bunch of amateurs will never override the "unholy trinity," they said, referring to the close relationship of the nation's top business leaders, politicians and government policy makers...

...Although nobody in either house responded, the men in red got their message across: That evening, their performance was featured nationwide on the prime time TV newscasts...

...Ohmae's confidence is based on the Society's grass-roots thrust: "Our policy proposals are designed to re-direct the spending of Japan's national wealth so that it will benefit the ordinary citizen, not the privilege-seeker...

...More concretely, it has spurred interest in Japan's first authentic national citizen's movement, the Society for Heisei Reform (Heisei being the name of the current imperial era), headed by Kenichi Ohmae...

...The Society would "decentralize government power, return it to local areas, and let local people decide what is best for them...

...Other examples of misdirected resource allocation are government support for more local airports (in a country that already has a generally excellent national rail network), and more hospitals (instead of restructuring a medical insurance system that encourages excessive hospital stays, medication and testing...

...His core message could be summarized as follows: We're strong enough to compete anywhere in the world...

...Shin Kanemaru, the LDP's major power broker, has been forced to retire from both Parliament and the party because of anonymously provided proof that he accepted $4 million from Sagawa...

...In a luxury Tokyo apartment that has been turned into "a place where we can create new ideas," Ohmae described how he arrived at the notion of an internal revolution that would lead to his global approach: "I began thinking about it six years ago, while I was writing a book which focused on the need to strengthen economic links among nations, and the need for strong leadership to achieve such goals...

...What we need is marinas, for pleasure boats and water sports lovers," Ohmae declares...

...LDP leaders commanded absolute political power because there was no practical alternative to their view of the country's national interest...

...It is coming, rather, from the ranks of the LDP itself, and even more surprisingly, from average Japanese citizens...

...The Society also is building a data base, "to help us evaluate the commitment of incumbent as well as potential political candidates in each of Japan's 130 electoral districts to support our policy objectives...

...Formed in 1955, the LDP is a collection of factions, each loyal to a "boss" but all dedicated to the basically conservative objectives of corporate and economic growth...

...The Santas then rang the door bells of the two disgraced leaders and tried to proffer their own "gift"—bundles of papers with information about Sagawa, a parcel delivery company whose political payoffs triggered the latest troubles...

...Instead, individual interviews will be conducted, focusing on key issues, with evaluation criteria developed by a major organization in the U.S...

...The next one is about to begin...

...political reform, government decentralization, and education reform...

...In a Society survey of several thousand Japanese, 78 per cent of the respondents named three key concerns...

...And he is particularly critical of government expenditures...

...But this past December 23, in the wake of the second major political scandal here within three years, it was given an added dimension...

...Almost all of them serve a tiny segment of the population—local fishermen who produce a fraction of the national income...

...image, the people here have been driven by regional loyalties for generations, if not centuries...

...Of the 511 current legislators in the more powerful Lower House of the Diet, 150 are said to already have pledged support for the movement...

...To promote its policies and expand its ranks the movement has adopted American techniques...

...Labor union leaders, once firm backers of the Socialist and Democratic Socialist parties, privately admit that they are feeling pressure from members who want them to become more flexible...

...Now, however, confronted by a serious economic slump and yet another high-level scandal, many Japanese are asking hard questions about where the country is headed...

...The sudden emasculation of such men has given rise to talk of new alliances and new parties...

...The largest opposition party, the Socialists, was composed of Marxists or neo-Marxists...

...Our movement offers that choice, as well as a clear vision of what course Japan ought to pursue in the future...

...He points out that even though their per capita income is impressive, most Japanese have had their purchasing power cut in half by unreasonably high prices...

...Opposition parties are losing the allegiance of their traditional constituencies as well...

...AMID SLUMP AND SCANDAL 'People Power' Emerges in Japan BY MICHAEL BERGER Tokyo In Japan, where Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines outnumber churches about 1000-1, Christmas is essentially a celebration for retailers...

...Despite their "Japan, Inc...

...Indeed, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for over a generation, is being threatened today as never before...

...No one felt there was any real hope of changing the existing political system, despite the fact that most Japanese believe it is corrupt...

...Its growing national network of local branches, for instance, all connected by personal computers, is Ross Perot's "electronic town hall" in action...

...A group of activists, some of them wearing Santa Claus costumes, appeared at the homes of two fallen power brokers...

...It is not only the conservative political center that has been shaken by Sagawa and the cooled down economy...

...Former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, who with his sometimes-rival Kanemaru used to control the party's largest faction, narrowly escaped indictment and is losing his leverage...

...To that Ohmae responds pragmatically: "People are fed up...

...Michael Berger contributes frequently to The New Leader from Japan...

...A best-selling author for more than a decade, Ohmae is accustomed to articulating his views...

...But thanks to the rapacity of corporate influence-peddlers, and to some anonymous whistle-blowers, a new phrase has entered Japanese politics?people power...

...A few months earlier they would have received scant attention, or might not have attempted the stunt...

...Their theoretical ideas about running an economy and society may have contained some well-meaning concepts, but as Japan's standard of living increased in the 1960s and '70s, its growing middle class simply wanted more of the same—and got it through the '80s...

...Japan, for example, has close to 3,000 harbors...

...But as the LDP threatens to fragment into new groups, and as new potential political leaders emerge on the Left and Right, the central question here remains: Would the Japanese people really abandon their old ways and take advantage of being able, for the first time, to make true political choices...

...Japan's last true revolution was when we opened up to the West in the late 19th century," he says...

...The threat is not from the opposition parties, who also have been implicated in the Sagawa affair...

...Ohmae, who has built a career formulating strategies and giving advice, has no doubts...

...let's move beyond old-fashioned concepts of national borders and create a new international identity for Japan...