By Kazuki Nakata

This year has almost ended. Looking back at the year, many incomprehensible events have happened in Japan. These were caused by the weakness of politicians, as can be seen in the change of Prime Minister in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party; government officials who do not fulfill their duties, as in the Ministry of Healthﾕs pension problems; the problems for the elderly in the health care system; the Ministry of Agricultureﾕs contaminated rice; and money-grubbing companies, and so on and on. There is no end to the list of sad examples, and regrettably Japanﾕs weakened economic situation looms over us. I want to discuss a few such problems here, and ponder what we younger members of society should do in order for people to live ﾒa healthy and cultured lifeﾓ, as the Constitution guarantees.

Prime Minister Aso proudly announced his economic policy in which two trillion yen were to be handed out as fixed sum benefits to all households. The average family of four would receive about 60,000 yen. Most people do not think that it is a good thing to receive this money from the government, and everyone thinks that the two trillion yen could be better used. This policy was announced at the same time as another policy that will raise consumption tax in two years. If the cash handout is for the welfare of the socially disadvantaged, how about, for example, reducing the consumption tax on food. The politicians ought to hammer out the best remedies for each level of society. As you may know, in the end, Prime Minister Aso and the ruling coalition decided to leave the details of the plan to municipal governments. It is understandable if people say that this scheme is merely a ﾒcarrotﾓ to sway our judgment in the upcoming election. What are the government and other Diet members doing? They are supposed to be leading this country! Itﾕs really too bad.

Another widely known and controversial case this year involved the illegal distribution of the contaminated and inedible rice. In September it was revealed that Mikasa Foods and three other companies were reselling contaminated rice, which they had bought from the agriculture ministry at auction. This rice was part of the 770,000 tons of ﾒminimum accessﾓ stocks that are imported every year under 1994 world trade rules. This policy is meant as a last resort for Japan to avoid opening the gate of free trade in agricultural products, even though Japan produces a surplus of rice. This imported rice, mostly from Asian countries, sometimes contains residues from pesticide or mold toxins far exceeding Japanese regulations, so the ministry sells it as contaminated and inedible rice. However, the companiesﾕ repeated illegal distribution worked as a kind of ﾒrice laundering,ﾓ and finally it was passed off as edible rice. It was used in school lunches, nursing home meals or cookies that anyone might consume. Bureaucrats from the agriculture ministry inspected Mikasa Food repeatedly, but they could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. But the bureaucrats should have known how the rice was being traded, and the companies involved in this trick are also to blame. It is very regrettable that Japanese morality has sunk to such depths.

The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare are both members of the Diet. We want these ministers to do their best in their positions and supervise their bureaucrats accordingly. The cases that I listed above might be our fault because we did not vote for the right person as our representative in the Diet. If we forget that point, nothing will change, no matter how many times we hold an election. The next election is close at hand and we young people ought to become politically active. This is the foundation of democracy. Young Americans were said to have taken an active role in the election campaign, believing Mr. Obamaﾕs words ﾒYes, we can.ﾓ Yes, we Japanese should also consider our responsibilities and take action. Letﾕs choose a suitable person for the Diet!