Visting Japan

I will be visiting Japan next week for business.  The last time I was in Japan, I had the interesting experience of meeting in the morning with a group of legislators from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and having lunch with a group of legislators from the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP).  At the time, the campaign for the lower house of parliament was beginning in earnest and the U.S. presidential primaries were underway.  Both groups were fascinated with Obama.  The DPJ wanted advice on how they could be like Obama and the LDP wanted guidance on how to block the “change” message.

In the end, as we know, the DPJ prevail and took the majority for the first time in many decades.  Interestingly, the new Hatoyama administration in Tokyo is being criticized for being insufficiently “Obama-esque.”  A Wall Street Journal op ed by Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini on December 30th advanced this view, saying that Hatoyama is too ideological and should be more pragmatic, as Obama is.  They point out that, unlike Obama, Hatoyama is unwilling to incur the rath of his own supporters. They say, “[T]he risk remains that he will try to keep too many of his campaign promises, deepening Japan’s debt without actually spurring growth.”

Today, a blog post on Observing Japan offers a rebuttal, pointing out that Hatoyama faces big challenges and doesn’t have the luxury to limit his ambitions.  I found the post persuasive and would even add that, to the extent Obama has disappointed his supporters, it has been mostly because of the need to compromise with some powerful adversaries, both within and outside his party.  It’s what he’s had to do to get things done.