BIG IN JAPAN
Keizo Obuchi
 During the 1998 ballot to select the new LDP leader, and thus the new
Japanese prime minister, one party apparatchik called the contest a fight "between a bonjin
[mediocrity], a gunjin [soldier] and a henjin [crackpot]."
The victory of the bonjin, Keizo Obuchi, a notably bland party man in a party of bland
men, was no surprise considering his political mentor, former prime minister Noboru
Takeshita, the "old man" of the LDP who continues to pull the strings behind the
scenes at the ripe age of 76. Japanese journalists labeled the new PM Takeshita' kingyo
no fun, or "goldfish shit," a widespread expression meaning an unpopular
hang-on.
The underwhelmed foreign media - disappointed at the lineup of geriatrics selected to
rejuvenate the ailing economy - joined in the mud-slinging, famously dubbing Obuchi
"cold pizza." Obuchi did himself no favors when he lamely dished out warmed-up
pizza to the press, saying, "Cold pizza can be reheated," to which one young
Japanese reporter quipped, "Yes, but it tastes bad."
Such pessimists were almost forced to eat their words when the Obuchi cabinet's public
approval rating began to climb, reaching 48% by October 1999. The Japanese warmed to Mr
Ordinary, thrown into the limelight and struggling to do his best.
After almost a decade of economic gloom, the green shoots of economic recovery could be
seen if you looked really really hard, and suddenly Mr Ordinary was Superman. He was
welcomed with open arms in Washington as a real reformer who recognized that Japan needed
to change, albeit at a Japanese pace. Cold pizza he may be, but everyone wanted a slice.
Born in Gunma in 1937, the young Obuchi chose politics after the death of his father,
Kohei, a member of the House of Representatives. Believing a successful politician should
know something of the world, Obuchi set off on a nine-month, 38-country holiday, an
inspiration to coach loads of tourists after him. In Washington he wrote a letter of
admiration to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who had made a speech at Waseda University.
Kennedy invited Obuchi to his office, offering him a firm handshake and saying they should
meet again when the young Japanese became a politician himself, which he did in 1963, aged
26, the youngest member of the Diet.
Obuchi's honeymoon as prime minister didn't last long. The LDP's cynical attempt to
broaden its power base through a coalition with the New Komitomo Party, its political
enemy, have made "Uncle Obuchi" look like just another unprincipled politician.
Other actions have also tarnished his nice-guy image, like excluding any supporters of
rival Koichi Kato's popular faction from the government, and choosing unpopular
right-winger Shingo Nishimura, an advocate of a nuclear Japan, as deputy minister for
defence. (Nishimura lasted two weeks in the job.)
As the Japanese people see it, the old ways of the LDP are back. They want a new approach.
The election of maverick Shintaro Ishihara as governor of Tokyo showed as much. A general
election must be held before October this year and if the LDP fails to perform, Obuchi
will discover that the best place for cold pizza is in the trash.
Charles Spreckley
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