英紙Financial Times　の記事

2009-02-17

Japan’s politicians lose their way at a bad time

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.

民主党は省庁に議員を送り込むと言っているが、その議員がどんな政策を実施するのか

実質的に何も言っていない。小沢一郎は保守的な日本の政治家であり選挙対策ばかりで

忙しい。政策決定を党の中の誰とも共有するつもりがなく、とりわけ小沢に完全に忠誠を

誓っていると小沢が信じる人間でないと相手にされない。

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.”

先日、民主党の経済政策の専門家の一人である衆院議員に戦後最悪の不況に対する民主党の政策に

ついて尋ねたら、彼は「まだあまり考えてない」と答えた。

There will be more destruction, perhaps including the demise of both the LDP and DPJ

and the formation of new parties. Whatever the political goings-on, there is no

optimistic short-term scenario for Japan.

おそらく自民党と民主党の両方の崩壊や新党の形成を含む崩壊がやってくるだろう。

どんな政治的事件だとしても、日本にとって短期的に楽観できるシナリオはない。

At some point the public will grasp the seriousness of the economic troubles and demand

change. But that crisis mentality does not exist today. Therefore things will not only

get worse before they get better. They will get worse before the political system comes

up with policies that even stand a chance of making them better.

ある時点で大衆は経済問題と需要変化の深刻さを理解するだろう。しかし現時点では

そのような危機は心の中には存在しない。したがって政治システムが有望な政策を

思いつく前に状況は悪化するだろう。