日本の政治に未来はない [エコノミスト記事]
イギリスの一流経済誌エコノミストがJapan’s hopeless politics「絶望的な日本の政治」というタイトルで、日本の政治、政治家を酷評した記事を載せています。この記事を日本の政治家が読んで、今の日本の政治が海外からどのような目で見られているのか、よく反省してもらいたいものです。
海外の目から見た日本の政治の実態がわれわれ日本人に鋭く迫ってきます。我々も今一度、冷静な目で日本の政治の実態を見つめ直す必要があるようです。
翻訳はJB Pressに乗っていますので、そちらを参照してください。
◆冒頭からかなり辛辣な記事内容となっている。
ALREADY enduring its sixth prime minister in five years, Japan is overdue a seventh. Naoto Kan, the man at present on the inside of the revolving door, only stayed there by promising at the beginning of June to step down soon, in return for a stay of execution at a parliamentary no-confidence vote. For both the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and his comrades in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the way he is lingering over his departure is exasperating.
この５年間で日本の総理大臣は６人誕生し、７人目が回転ドアの中にいて出番を待っているという書き出しで始まっている。endure「我慢する」という単語が使われているが、日本国民の気持ちを表してる言葉と言える。
英文記事の中で使われているrevolving doorという単語ですが、これは日本の総理大臣が短期間で頻繁に交代することを皮肉を込めて使われている語で、「人の入れ替わりの激しい組織」という意味です。
a stay of execution は「死刑執行の延期」という意味ですが、菅総理が内閣不信任決議案が可決されるのを免れたことを大げさに表現したものです。
the way he is lingering over his departure「 だらだらと出発を引き延ばしている菅総理のやり方」
departureはここでは「辞任」という意味で使われている。
菅総理が退陣の条件として挙げた３法案の成立ですが、間もなく成立の見通しのようです。
この３法案の1つに「再生エネルギー特別措置法」というのがありますが、記事の中でfeed-in tariffsという語句が出てきて、最初その意味がよくわかりませんでした。feed-in tariffs for electricity to encourage the development of renewable energy となっていたので、これが「固定価格買い取り制度」だということがわかりました。この語句は残念ながら一般の辞書には載っていませんでした。電力関係の専門用語なのでしょうか。
Wikipedia(日本語)で、「固定価格買い取り制度」を検索したら詳しい説明が載っており、feed-in tariffという英語も載っていました。
この記事の後半では、菅総理の支持率の低下について触れていますが、これは一総理の問題ではなく、日本の政治全体の問題であると書いています。
Mr Kan’s unpopularity is a symptom of a deeper problem: a loss of faith in politics generally. Partisan and intra-party bickering at a time of national emergency has further battered politics’ reputation.
「菅総理の人気のなさは、政治全般に対する信頼感の喪失というもっと根深い問題の現れである。国家の緊急事態に直面している時に、党派間、党内で繰り返される政治闘争により、政治に対する国民の評価が一段と低下してしまった」
東日本大震災の復興・復旧作業についても書かれているが、次の総理が決まったとしても、状況は変わらないだろうと見ている。
Japan badly needs effective government. The clean-up from the tsunami and earthquake has been impressive. But rebuilding has yet to begin, because big and urgent decisions about what to rebuild where have yet to be taken. Mr Kan’s team hardly seems up to the job. But few believe a replacement would be much better.
「菅内閣に大震災からの復興作業という仕事が務まるようには到底思えない。だからと言って、次の内閣に変わったら状況が今よりもっとよくなるのではないかと思っている国民はほとんどいない。」
Japan’s hopeless politics
Nuclear options
The uncanny stickability of Japan’s prime minister
ALREADY enduring its sixth prime minister in five years, Japan is overdue a seventh. Naoto Kan, the man at present on the inside of the revolving door, only stayed there by promising at the beginning of June to step down soon, in return for a stay of execution at a parliamentary no-confidence vote. For both the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and his comrades in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the way he is lingering over his departure is exasperating.
For rival politicians (a category that includes virtually all of them), it is also rather frightening. As Japan struggles to cope with the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear-power plant, Mr Kan has nailed his colours to the anti-nuclear mast, arguing that Japan needs to reduce its dependence on atomic energy. Oddly he later watered this down, by saying he was only expressing a personal view not a government policy. But other politicians fear that, rather than quit, he may call an election, campaign on the future of the nuclear industry and (such is the popular hostility to it) win. Goshi Hosono, an avowedly pro-nuclear DPJ technocrat whom Mr Kan appointed as minister in charge of the nuclear mess, says it is “not a good idea” to test the public on this issue.
This week Mr Kan said he had no intention of dissolving parliament early, arguing that the public would not like it and that it would be better to wait until 2013. Even that did not entirely quash rumours that he may use the anniversary on August 6th of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to make a dramatic anti-nuclear gesture.
A snap election would seem out of character. But Mr Kan has still not set a date for his departure. At the end of June he listed three conditions he wanted met before standing down. One was fulfilled this week, with the passage of a ¥2 trillion ($26 billion) supplementary budget to help pay for recovery from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March. There is also some progress on the second condition, a law covering the setting of feed-in tariffs for electricity, to encourage the development of renewable energy.
The third, passage of legislation enabling the government to borrow to finance its deficit, may be trickier. In an echo of the showdown in Washington, DC, the LDP wants Mr Kan to drop some of the DPJ’s spending promises—such as an allowance for raising children, and the abolition of expressway tolls and tuition fees for public high schools.
Even if that dispute is resolved, Mr Kan may still try to hang on after the end of this parliamentary session on August 31st. This seems remarkable. The political class loathes him; the press relentlessly reviles him; business despises him; and voters want him to go. His approval rating has plummeted to below 20%.
One of his advisers, however, points out that most other politicians score even lower in the polls. Mr Kan’s unpopularity is a symptom of a deeper problem: a loss of faith in politics generally. Partisan and intra-party bickering at a time of national emergency has further battered politics’ reputation. Mr Kan’s government is widely seen as having been inept in disaster-management, and its standing will sink deeper if, as many expect, scares about nuclear-tainted food worsen.
Japan badly needs effective government. The clean-up from the tsunami and earthquake has been impressive. But rebuilding has yet to begin, because big and urgent decisions about what to rebuild where have yet to be taken. Mr Kan’s team hardly seems up to the job. But few believe a replacement would be much better.
Desperate to get rid of him, some of his colleagues are whispering of their own weapon of mass destruction: the collective resignation of the cabinet and DPJ hierarchy. That might do the trick in ousting Mr Kan. But it would not lift the contempt in which the political class is held.
(The Economist 2011/07/30)
海外の目から見た日本の政治の実態がわれわれ日本人に鋭く迫ってきます。我々も今一度、冷静な目で日本の政治の実態を見つめ直す必要があるようです。
翻訳はJB Pressに乗っていますので、そちらを参照してください。
◆冒頭からかなり辛辣な記事内容となっている。
ALREADY enduring its sixth prime minister in five years, Japan is overdue a seventh. Naoto Kan, the man at present on the inside of the revolving door, only stayed there by promising at the beginning of June to step down soon, in return for a stay of execution at a parliamentary no-confidence vote. For both the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and his comrades in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the way he is lingering over his departure is exasperating.
この５年間で日本の総理大臣は６人誕生し、７人目が回転ドアの中にいて出番を待っているという書き出しで始まっている。endure「我慢する」という単語が使われているが、日本国民の気持ちを表してる言葉と言える。
英文記事の中で使われているrevolving doorという単語ですが、これは日本の総理大臣が短期間で頻繁に交代することを皮肉を込めて使われている語で、「人の入れ替わりの激しい組織」という意味です。
a stay of execution は「死刑執行の延期」という意味ですが、菅総理が内閣不信任決議案が可決されるのを免れたことを大げさに表現したものです。
the way he is lingering over his departure「 だらだらと出発を引き延ばしている菅総理のやり方」
departureはここでは「辞任」という意味で使われている。
菅総理が退陣の条件として挙げた３法案の成立ですが、間もなく成立の見通しのようです。
この３法案の1つに「再生エネルギー特別措置法」というのがありますが、記事の中でfeed-in tariffsという語句が出てきて、最初その意味がよくわかりませんでした。feed-in tariffs for electricity to encourage the development of renewable energy となっていたので、これが「固定価格買い取り制度」だということがわかりました。この語句は残念ながら一般の辞書には載っていませんでした。電力関係の専門用語なのでしょうか。
Wikipedia(日本語)で、「固定価格買い取り制度」を検索したら詳しい説明が載っており、feed-in tariffという英語も載っていました。
この記事の後半では、菅総理の支持率の低下について触れていますが、これは一総理の問題ではなく、日本の政治全体の問題であると書いています。
Mr Kan’s unpopularity is a symptom of a deeper problem: a loss of faith in politics generally. Partisan and intra-party bickering at a time of national emergency has further battered politics’ reputation.
「菅総理の人気のなさは、政治全般に対する信頼感の喪失というもっと根深い問題の現れである。国家の緊急事態に直面している時に、党派間、党内で繰り返される政治闘争により、政治に対する国民の評価が一段と低下してしまった」
東日本大震災の復興・復旧作業についても書かれているが、次の総理が決まったとしても、状況は変わらないだろうと見ている。
Japan badly needs effective government. The clean-up from the tsunami and earthquake has been impressive. But rebuilding has yet to begin, because big and urgent decisions about what to rebuild where have yet to be taken. Mr Kan’s team hardly seems up to the job. But few believe a replacement would be much better.
「菅内閣に大震災からの復興作業という仕事が務まるようには到底思えない。だからと言って、次の内閣に変わったら状況が今よりもっとよくなるのではないかと思っている国民はほとんどいない。」
Japan’s hopeless politics
Nuclear options
The uncanny stickability of Japan’s prime minister
ALREADY enduring its sixth prime minister in five years, Japan is overdue a seventh. Naoto Kan, the man at present on the inside of the revolving door, only stayed there by promising at the beginning of June to step down soon, in return for a stay of execution at a parliamentary no-confidence vote. For both the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and his comrades in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the way he is lingering over his departure is exasperating.
For rival politicians (a category that includes virtually all of them), it is also rather frightening. As Japan struggles to cope with the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear-power plant, Mr Kan has nailed his colours to the anti-nuclear mast, arguing that Japan needs to reduce its dependence on atomic energy. Oddly he later watered this down, by saying he was only expressing a personal view not a government policy. But other politicians fear that, rather than quit, he may call an election, campaign on the future of the nuclear industry and (such is the popular hostility to it) win. Goshi Hosono, an avowedly pro-nuclear DPJ technocrat whom Mr Kan appointed as minister in charge of the nuclear mess, says it is “not a good idea” to test the public on this issue.
This week Mr Kan said he had no intention of dissolving parliament early, arguing that the public would not like it and that it would be better to wait until 2013. Even that did not entirely quash rumours that he may use the anniversary on August 6th of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to make a dramatic anti-nuclear gesture.
A snap election would seem out of character. But Mr Kan has still not set a date for his departure. At the end of June he listed three conditions he wanted met before standing down. One was fulfilled this week, with the passage of a ¥2 trillion ($26 billion) supplementary budget to help pay for recovery from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March. There is also some progress on the second condition, a law covering the setting of feed-in tariffs for electricity, to encourage the development of renewable energy.
The third, passage of legislation enabling the government to borrow to finance its deficit, may be trickier. In an echo of the showdown in Washington, DC, the LDP wants Mr Kan to drop some of the DPJ’s spending promises—such as an allowance for raising children, and the abolition of expressway tolls and tuition fees for public high schools.
Even if that dispute is resolved, Mr Kan may still try to hang on after the end of this parliamentary session on August 31st. This seems remarkable. The political class loathes him; the press relentlessly reviles him; business despises him; and voters want him to go. His approval rating has plummeted to below 20%.
One of his advisers, however, points out that most other politicians score even lower in the polls. Mr Kan’s unpopularity is a symptom of a deeper problem: a loss of faith in politics generally. Partisan and intra-party bickering at a time of national emergency has further battered politics’ reputation. Mr Kan’s government is widely seen as having been inept in disaster-management, and its standing will sink deeper if, as many expect, scares about nuclear-tainted food worsen.
Japan badly needs effective government. The clean-up from the tsunami and earthquake has been impressive. But rebuilding has yet to begin, because big and urgent decisions about what to rebuild where have yet to be taken. Mr Kan’s team hardly seems up to the job. But few believe a replacement would be much better.
Desperate to get rid of him, some of his colleagues are whispering of their own weapon of mass destruction: the collective resignation of the cabinet and DPJ hierarchy. That might do the trick in ousting Mr Kan. But it would not lift the contempt in which the political class is held.
(The Economist 2011/07/30)
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