VOX POPULI: Approach of spring not felt on political stage

The keyaki zelkova trees that line Tokyo's Omotesando avenue are now wearing a lime green halo of lovely young leaves. At the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, the giant ginkgo tree that was uprooted in a spring storm in March is said to have sprouted new buds from the roots that survived.

Despite the roller-coaster fluctuations in temperatures during April, spring has deepened with each rain.

But spring seems nowhere near in the nation's political community.

Take, for instance, the old trees that represent the members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Transplanted from a sunny spot in the garden to a windswept field, the trees keep shedding their leaves as though it's winter, not spring that's on the way.

Some young trees that stole away before they could be transplanted have managed to vigorously re-anchor their trunks.

But some others who have left the LDP since it fell from power remind me of warriors fleeing the battlefield.

Yoichi Masuzoe's new party seems to have been cobbled together with the coming Upper House election, numbers and money in mind, rather than for the sake of maintaining political integrity.

I'm not sure whether Masuzoe tried to secure only the minimum membership to form a political party by picking from among those who will have a tough election fight this summer, or whether the members themselves decided to ride Masuzoe's coattails.

A post on an Internet discussion site suggested the name New Party Makizoe, a pun on Masuzoe and makizoe, which means "entanglement" in Japanese.

Minor conservative parties are attacking the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan, but are also tormenting the LDP at the same time. In so doing, they are actually helping the DPJ by expanding the DPJ's options for potential coalition partners beyond the stubborn current partners--the Social Democratic Party and the New People's Party.

With the opposition camp in this state of disarray, the DPJ can afford to keep waffling on the Futenma relocation and expressway toll issues.

The second round of screening selected projects for spending cuts has begun, targeting government-affiliated organizations. The review is one of the few box-office hits scored by the increasingly unpopular administration, which must be hoping the audience will be wowed again by its wielding of the fiscal axe. Unfortunately, the audience may already be too distracted by all the backstage farce to really appreciate the show.

The DPJ is unstable, and the LDP is wilting. There is barely a greater misfortune for the people than to see the two practically vying to outdo each other in uselessness. And for now, the new parties offer little to win over jaded, disappointed voters.

It has been seven months since the historic regime change of last year, yet the "political winter" continues. One can only wonder if this period of transition is just something we must endure before things look up again.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 24

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.