Aside from flagging approval ratings and difficulty pushing for a politically crucial tax bill, territorial spats with Korea and China are testing the leadership of already beleaguered Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
In a display of his strong commitment to tackling Japan’s public debt, Noda has staked his political fate on the passage of a bill that seeks to double the national sales tax to 10 percent by 2015.
The bill already passed the lower house of Japan’s bicameral legislature in June after opposition parties offered their backing to Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan in return for his pledge to call elections soon.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
Reports say he may hold parliamentary polls in October or November, in which his party appears set for defeat with support ratings hovering in the 10-percent range, the lowest since he took office last September.
Threatening to push for no-confidence and censure motions, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and others call for an early election.
The DPJ wants the elections to come after it recovers some of the lost voter support. But winning the hearts of voters is not easy.
Public disenchantment with the DPJ appears deep as the ruling party is seen as having failed to keep its promise to bring about change in state governance. The discontent has deepened since the archipelago state suffered through the Fukushima atomic disaster last year.
At this juncture, Japan has run into a diplomatic spat over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo. Calling Korea’s control of Dokdo illegal, the Noda government has renewed its call to bring the case to the International Court of Justice.
For Noda, the spat could be an opportunity to swing the political pendulum in his favor, albeit temporarily. But the two neighbors should keep in mind that long-term national interest is not lost along the way.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
