There could be no more cynical way to waste the shrinking pie of public tax money than another meaningless election, reminiscent of the callous election Osaka leader Toru Hashimoto foisted on its citizens not so long ago just to bolster one individual's own political omnipotence when what is needed is real help for people struggling to make ends meet.

It seems that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is out of touch, having been so busy globe-trotting at the expense of the taxpayer for months on end to persuade the world that his "Abenomics" is a miracle.

Nothing will stop ordinary Japanese stuffing their yen under their futon, not even the legion of spin doctors the prime minister surrounds himself with — of whom he is the most skilled at deception it seems — none of whom has the slightest interest in serving the public majority to whom they only feign concern.

Calling a major election with just a couple of weeks' notice shows a contempt for democracy. Nobody has time to think seriously about the issues, and the fractured opposition parties don't have the means to challenge an entrenched ruling party which has its hands on more tax funding than anyone could imagine, let alone challenge enough to campaign.

There will be no legitimate weighing of the central issues, no chance to discuss a single one of the increasing problems that the Liberal Democratic Party has been hiding behind its rhetoric and skewed data, and no improvement in the failed policies of a leader so disinterested in the vast majority of his sponsors, the common taxpayer.

david john
chikushino, fukushima

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.