I read with interest the Sept. 28 article "Koizumi confirms plan to retire, pass torch to son." Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's designated political heir apparent for Kanagawa District No. 11 will be 27-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi.
While single families have long dominated Japan's ruling party politics -- Prime Minister Taro Aso's grandfather was a prime minister, former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda inherited his father's domain, etc. -- one has to question whether the lack of genuine new blood in politics is the key reason why Japanese politics never changes, and why so many supposedly astute politicians -- from former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to just-resigned transport and tourism minister Nariaki Nakayama -- lack common sense when talking to the media. Otherwise, why else would they keep forgetting that what they say reflects on the international standing of the world's second-largest economy?
Nakayama, who said that the Japanese basically dislike foreigners, that Japan is ethnically homogeneous and that the Japanese teachers union is a "cancer" in education, has put his foot in his mouth more times than I care to remember. Perhaps the "inbreeding" among the Liberal Democratic Party elite is partially responsible for this.
Were the Japanese electorate less complacent and cynical about politics in general, they might demonstrate outrage at the level of ignorance of these politicians and the damage it has caused to their nation's reputation.
But as long as most Japanese people themselves view their language as somehow impenetrable to foreigners, the world is going to continue to have a field day when they open up their newspaper or turn on their computers in the morning.
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