Japan Sees The Chinese Writing On The Wall...Conservatives Take an Historic Majority

Article 9 of the Japanese constitution "forever renounce[s] war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." That comes in conflict with the entirety of human existence and, frankly, is just silly. It is impossible to function as a nation without a credible threat of force to defend the concept of "nation," even with the guarantees of American power that have backed Japan since the end of World War II.

Perhaps the legally-mandated pacifism has contributed to the cultural malaise in which Japan finds itself. Their birth rate is nowhere near replacement, let alone enough for healthy population growth! They don't get married, they don't have sex...apparently all they do is spend a lot of time at the office, then drink themselves into a stupor.

But maybe that can change!

Takaichi's Ruling Bloc Wins Landslide Election in Japan's Lower House

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling coalition swept to a single-party majority victory in a critical parliamentary election on Feb. 8, paving the way for the nation’s first female head of state to pursue her agenda of sweeping tax cuts and increasing military spending to counter Beijing’s influence.

Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was projected to clinch as many as 328 of the lower house’s 465 seats, a landslide supermajority, according to exit poll results cited by NHK public television and other major networks.

Her ruling coalition and its partner—the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin—is projected to win as many as 366 seats in the lower chamber, the more powerful house in Japan’s two-chamber parliament.

Takaichi’s LDP alone had already secured the 233 seats required for a majority roughly 90 minutes after polls closed on Sunday. Her party’s sweep of 328 seats is the most it has ever won in Japan’s lower chamber.

Takaichi’s ruling coalition’s win allows the female prime minister, who has cited inspiration from Britain’s “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, to pursue a conservative agenda that seeks to improve Japan’s economy and military readiness amid ongoing tensions with China and as Tokyo fosters closer ties with Washington.

Will Takaichi be able to reverse the existential ennui that grips Japan? Perhaps. But the size of her win suggests that the Japanese people want a change. Will Japan return to its martial roots and become expansionist? No, that is probably not going to happen, but a revitalized national pride and a focus on what is best for Japan is a fine thing. Hopefully Takaichi sees a kindred spirit in President Trump, and the relationship between America and Japan strengthens.

Even if it doesn't, the specter of a Japan that takes its defense seriously must be a nightmare in Peking. And that is a very good thing indeed!

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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