Has democracy matured in Japan? Scholar-turned-politician Yoichi Masuzoe used to say Japan is a mature democratic nation, as its politics is led by public opinion. Recently, however, he seems to have reversed his way of thinking, as he states that Japanese citizens have become more like spectators than wielders of sovereign power.
Masuzoe, 59, majored in political science at the prestigious University of Tokyo, and studied further at the University of Paris and at the International Institute of Higher Education in Geneva. He taught at his alma mater in Tokyo for 10 years from 1979 and made himself famous as a television commentator before entering politics — garnering 1,580,000 votes in the 2001 Upper House election on the Liberal Democratic Party ticket. He has been health and welfare minister since August 2007.
In his book published in May 2007, which deals with the power struggle between elected politicians and bureaucrats, Masuzoe says: "The nation can have sound politics only when public opinion plays the leading role, and that is the most fundamental principle of democracy. In Japan today, public opinion constitutes the strongest political force, as it is directly reflected in politics.