"The LDP has no policies of its own"
	Interview with Naoto Kan
	By Jim Frederick | Tokyo

Posted Monday, September 15, 2003; 21:00 HKT
last month, opposition icon and democratic party leader Naoto Kan joined forces with Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Liberal Party. In his modest office, Kan, 56, spoke with TIME Tokyo bureau chief Jim Frederick about the new Democratic Party and how he hopes to take on Koizumi in the general elections likely to take place this fall.

TIME: Why merge?
Kan: We thought that a merger was an effective way of realizing a change in administration in the next election. Reform is necessary in Japan today, and the two parties share this basic view.

TIME: What does the new party offer that the ldp does not?
Kan: Because almost all of the ldp's policies have been decided by bureaucrats, the ldp has no policies of its own per se. We aspire to create an administration that would shift from politics controlled by bureaucrats to politics where people can actually control what decisions are made, through their political representatives.

TIME: What about reports that the two parties are already having trouble reconciling their policy differences?
Kan: I'm not concerned. The fundamental direction of our reform is the same. If you take a look at the individual proposals for the tax system or the pension system, the proposals are slightly different, since we were two separate parties. But our differences are no greater than those within the ldp.

TIME: How will you and Ozawa share power?
Kan: He will look to me to be the representative of the party and to take leadership. He has said he will support my leadership as a loyal soldier.

TIME: What should the role of the Self-Defense Forces be?
Kan:Under the current constitution, it's impossible for us to have our Self-Defense Forces engage in the use of force abroad. Perhaps we have to change the situation so that in the event that the United Nations calls upon Japan to engage in military activities abroad, we'd be able to do that.

TIME: How should the Japan-U.S. relationship change?
Kan: The recent policies of President Bush are extremely different compared with those of prior American Administrations. I question whether his foreign policy is eradicating terrorism or leading to its proliferation. When it comes to the pre-emptive strikes being promoted by the Bush Administration, there is no way I can agree to Japan just keeping silent and following America's lead, which Mr. Koizumi is doing.

TIME: What should be done about North Korea?
Kan: North Korea has to permanently cease nuclear development and must make every possible effort to solve the cases of abductions. If North Korea accepts these two conditions, I think Japan, the U.S. and the Republic of Korea could promise that there would be no use of force by the U.S. in order to bring about a change of administration.

TIME: What do you make of Takenaka's banking reforms?
Kan: What Mr. Takenaka is saying is pretty much what we tried to do in 1998. Unfortunately, he has not been able to implement these reforms. "Structural reform" is a term we first came up with. Prime Minister Koizumi has not moved ahead even one millimeter.

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