ISSEI KATO/REUTERS

NEW FACE: Okada is picking up the pieces of the DPJ

The Opposition
	Coming Back from the Brink
	By Jim Frederick

Posted Monday, July 5, 2004; 20:00 HKT
Although it's technically less than a year old, the new Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has had more ups and downs than a Mikimoto pearl diver. But as the July 11 Upper House election approaches, Katsuya Okada, the party's quiet, understated president (who has been on the job for less than two months), is receiving high praise for returning stability and competitiveness to the nation's largest opposition party in remarkably rapid fashion.

For nearly five decades, Japan has had one of the odder political structures on the planet: a democracy ruled almost continuously by a single entity, the Liberal Democratic Party (or the LDP, whose members, the joke goes, are neither liberal nor democratic, and not a lot of fun at parties). But when veteran outsider and political brawler Ichiro Ozawa folded his Liberal Party into longtime rabble-rouser Naoto Kan's DPJ last fall, the unified opposition appeared to have hit a critical mass, and the nation seemed headed at last toward a true multiparty political system. That impression was reinforced when the DPJ went on to capture 177 seats in last November's Lower House election, while the LDP won a disappointing 237.

Almost immediately after that, the DPJ's wheels came off. While the party is consistently (if only slightly) more liberal on most major issues than the LDP, it has vigorously promoted itself as a bastion of idealistic and scrupulously ethical politicians, playing up the LDP's vested interests, clubby atmosphere and scandal-prone reputation whenever possible. Trying to take the high road backfired disastrously, however, after one DPJ member was found to have fabricated his educational background, while another was indicted on charges of diverting state funds to a secretary who didn't exist. Things went from bad to worse when Kan and Ozawa came under fire for not making required payments into the national pension scheme in a widespread scandal that swept through the government this spring. Both eventually stepped down from their party-leadership positions.

When the reins fell to the little-known Okada, many wrote the party off. The financial daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun likened him to a relief pitcher called to the mound without a warm-up. The DPJ seemed destined to return to its roots as the largest of the nation's many borderline-irrelevant opposition parties.

But someone clearly forgot to tell Okada. He has capitalized on the recent downturn in Koizumi's fortunes to mount a surprisingly aggressive campaign. A scion of the Aeon retailing dynasty, Okada is an Ozawa protégé with 14 years' experience in the Diet. Though he lacks Koizumi's magnetism, he shares a similar reputation for integrity, and is known as a more intellectual, more hands-on student of policy and legislation. Columbia University professor Gerald Curtis calls Okada "reliable, mature, substantive—a guy you can trust not to screw things up." In a recent televised debate with Koizumi, Okada held his own, chastising the Prime Minister for his failure to achieve substantial pension reforms and his "unconstitutional" deployment of troops to Iraq.

While few think the DPJ is close to challenging the LDP for outright control of the government, Okada has brought the party back from the brink of collapse, and many now say they wouldn't be surprised if the DPJ picks up a significant number of Upper House seats at the LDP's expense. "The DPJ is building a secure foundation to become an effective opposition force," says Jun Iio, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. Maybe Japan is on its way to a multiparty democracy after all.

With reporting by Coco Masters and Toko Sekiguchi/Tokyo

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