Ms. Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a Social Democratic Party stalwart and a star politician as much as party chief Mizuho Fukushima is, announced her departure from the party Tuesday. This could seriously damage the SDP unless it makes strenuous efforts to pursue idealism based on political realism — a difficult endeavor.
Her exit symbolizes the conflict within the SDP between idealism and realism, the former represented by Ms. Fukushima and the latter by Ms. Tsujimoto.
Ms. Fukushima's idealism was clearly shown when she, then consumer affairs minister of the Hatoyama administration, opposed Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's eventual decision to accept the 2006 Japan-U.S. accord to move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa Island, to Henoko in the northern part of the island, despite his earlier call for moving Futenma's functions outside Okinawa Prefecture. Mr. Hatoyama fired Ms. Fukushima and the SDP left the ruling coalition.