VOX POPULI: LDP elders holding back party's progress

Shunju (spring and autumn) means time or years and hence age. The phrase shunju ni tomu (be rich in time) applies to young people with a long future ahead of them. But these days, many people misuse the term to mean old. When elderly people hear the term used to describe them, they may take it as sarcasm and get confused. The phrase shunju takashi (be high in age) should be used for elderly people.

It appears that members who are "rich" and "high" in time are vying with each other within the Liberal Democratic Party. According to a report in the vernacular Asahi Shimbun, heavyweights in the main opposition party are finding fewer opportunities to speak in public now that the LDP is no longer in power. For this reason, many older members are eager to make their presence felt in televised Diet deliberations and demanding they be given a chance to ask questions.

As a result, younger LDP lawmakers are grumbling that they are getting fewer opportunities to speak.

Of the 10 LDP lawmakers who asked questions during the televised deliberations in the Lower House Budget Committee on Feb. 5 and 8, six were veterans who have been elected eight or more times. Some of them are heads of intra-party factions.

Perhaps they should be characterized as denpa konen (airwaves elders) to make a pun on "Denpa Shonen" (Airwaves boy), a once-popular television variety show.

"Even though a generation change is needed to recover the party's popularity, they think it doesn't apply to them," a disgruntled young LDP member was quoted as saying.

If I remember correctly, the following quote on performance is attributed to Musei Tokugawa (1894-1971), a narrator of silent films and radio and television personality: "When you think someone is just as good as you, actually, he or she is far better than you."

We all tend to be soft on ourselves. The same thing can be said of age. When you think someone is about the same age as you, most of the time the other person is a few years younger, I am told.

Apparently, many LDP elders feel they are much younger than their age. That is not bad. If younger LDP members want generational change, they should have the eruptive energy powerful enough to blow away the control by elderly heavyweights.

On Wednesday, LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki stood in the limelight as he took part in a televised one-on-one debate with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

But I got the impression I was watching a ski jumper who had lost his momentum. How did young LDP members see him? I am worried that the LDP might be losing its vitality as the leading opposition party.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 18

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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.