The DPJ talks about replacing bureaucrats with politicians in key ministerial positions
but says virtually nothing about what policies these newly empowered politicians would
implement. Ichiro Ozawa, its leader, is a survivor from the old school of Japanese
politics too busy micromanaging the election - he is his own Karl Rove - and too
unwilling to share decision-making with others in the party, especially those whom he
suspects are not entirely loyal to him, to be spending time preparing a transition.
The other day I asked an MP who is one of the party’s economic policy specialists what
fiscal policies the DPJ would employ to deal with what is shaping up to be Japan’s worst
postwar recession. His answer: “We haven’t thought much about that yet.”