EDITORIAL: Yanagida's resignation

Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida has been forced to resign after a political spat between the ruling and opposition parties over a quip concerning his job.

It is hard not to feel distressed about this development at a time when the nation is facing many urgent policy challenges.

Yanagida's comment about how he can handle questions at the Diet by using just two phrases shows a lack of awareness about his ministerial accountability to the public.

Yanagida deserved to lose his job since his remark raised doubts about his qualifications to lead the reform to restore public confidence in the criminal prosecution system.

But the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan tried until the last moment to keep Yanagida in office.

They feared that giving in to pressure from the opposition parties, which were threatening to pass a censure motion against Yanagida through the Upper House, would increase pressure for the resignation of other ministers, such as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and land minister Sumio Mabuchi.

It is disturbing that the government and DPJ leaders thought they might be able to undermine the opposition's "censure motion tactics" by keeping Yanagida in his post even after a censure motion is passed.

If the government and the ruling party were too worried about the opposition's moves to pay attention to public criticism of Yanagida's remark, they are taking their mandate to govern too lightly.

In 2008, when the Liberal Democratic Party was in power, then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda ignored a censure motion passed against him. Still, he abruptly stepped down three months later amid political paralysis.

The government and the DPJ should keep in mind that it is extremely difficult to keep ignoring the will of the Diet, which represents the public, even if it is expressed only in a vote by one of the houses.

Also troubling is the government's inconsistency highlighted by its move to urge Yanagida to quit the day after he announced his intention to stay.

The episode has once again exposed a lack of leadership and crisis management ability in the prime minister's office.

Although the government has cleared the way for passage of an important supplementary budget, only two government-sponsored bills have been passed in the current extraordinary Diet session, which began Oct. 1.

Diet deliberations remain dominated by partisan battles over money in politics scandals and indiscreet remarks by Cabinet members, and there has been little debate about key policy issues.

The justice minister's departure should be taken by lawmakers as a cue to return the Diet to its original function as a forum for policy debate. The responsibility to do so falls primarily on the DPJ. The party should remove the outrageous laxness and ineptitude from its administration.

The opposition parties share this responsibility. They cannot meet public expectations if they are obsessed with playing the parliamentary game of trying to drive the government into a corner by introducing one censure motion after another.

The "twisted" Diet demands politics based on mature and exhaustive debate between the ruling and opposition camps to find common ground.

This extraordinary Diet session was supposed to be a test of whether such politics can be realized in the ordinary session to be convened in January where the fiscal 2011 budget will be considered.

If the current session ends without any action to change this fruitless partisan politics, it is certain that the upcoming Diet session will also be disastrous.

Kan should act in a way that demonstrates his commitment to take steps to revitalize his leadership, including efforts to settle the issue of summoning former DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa for Diet testimony over his funding scandal.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 23