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| Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan |
In campaigning for the Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan will push policies that may seem to voters like "bitter medicine," such as lowering the minimum taxable income level, to show the party is thinking seriously about the nation's future, DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said.
The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partners — New Komeito and the New Conservative Party — only present "sweet" policies, Hatoyama said in an interview with The Japan Times. He gave as an example the tapping of the 500 billion yen reserve fund in the fiscal 2000 budget to increase public works projects, to win voters ahead of the June 25 election.
"But I doubt if the nation's financial health will allow such expenses," with its outstanding debt reaching 645 trillion yen in fiscal 2000, he said.