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Japan's sentimental samurai spirit

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Japan's new government of Yukio Hatoyama has hardly been in power for a week, yet there are reports of squabbling among leading players that could potentially tear the Democratic Party of Japan apart before it achieves anything.

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Some of this is working out how to handle power. But there is also a more deeply rooted problem - what I would call a romantic longing for Japan's old samurai spirit - that could lead the government along a dangerous road, back towards the 17th or 18th century when it should be looking ahead to the 22nd century.

One expression of inexperience involves the entrenched bureaucracy. During the long rule of the Liberal Democratic Party, bureaucrats and politicians got along infamously, the bureaucrats in charge and the politicians kept happy with lots of boondoggles. These included bullet trains to their constituencies, roads, bridges and town halls that were uneconomic but provided work for construction companies, money for the political coffers and votes from constituents grateful for such largesse.

So far, the government has shown the haughtiness of insecurity. When new ministers appeared for the first time, they had been told not to take briefings from their bureaucrats - and it showed, with many clearly uncomfortable with the issues they were supposed to be responsible for.

Wise ministers listen to their bureaucrats, knowing that the officials have wisdom and experience, but make it plain that they will make the final decisions because they have to carry the political can.

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The relationship between the government and the party could prove a dangerous fault line, given the autocratic personality of Ichiro Ozawa, who has no ministerial portfolio but became party secretary general. Ozawa was the real mastermind of the DPJ victory, but had to resign as leader because of a corruption scandal involving a close aide. But Ozawa has a history of petulant behaviour in rebelling against former political friends. He had been secretary general and a rising star of the LDP in the 1980s. Hatoyama may wish that he had brought Ozawa inside the government tent, especially if or when he encounters fickle changes in the public support now surging in his favour.

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