LONDON -- Reading the accounts in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the Financial Times of the shenanigans inside and outside the Japanese House of Representatives over the no-confidence motion against the Mori government, I could not help laughing, but I also felt despair about the future of parliamentary institutions in Japan. If this sort of nonsense continues, I thought, surely the Japanese people will become increasingly disillusioned with party politics.

There seemed, at first sight, to be some similarities between what is happening now and the situation in Japan in the 1930s. The uncertainty prevailing then had provided an excuse, albeit a specious one, for the military to intervene to "clean up" politics. There is, of course, a significant difference now. The Self-Defense Forces are under civilian control and even if some members wished to intervene, which I doubt, they would not have public support. But that does not mean that parliamentary democracy in Japan is safe. Growing disillusionment and public apathy could allow sects or people with dangerous ambitions to gain power.

The factions and their leaders in the Liberal Democratic Party have changed over the last half century, but the infighting and power-broking does not seem to have changed much, if at all. There has been little real policy debate, and personalities still seem to count most. For anyone used to parliamentary democracy in other Western countries, the Japanese political scene is bizarre. Japan has a deeply unpopular prime minister whose capacity for gaffes seems unlimited. His Cabinet is largely filled by nonentities, except for the minister of finance and the minister of foreign affairs, and the Cabinet's average age is much too high for a government that faces formidable problems, including a huge and growing burden of public debt. Japan needs a younger and more vigorous group of ministers. The over-80s should be "put out to grass" if they will not retire gracefully. No British party would put up with the present situation in Japan, especially with an election looming. Even former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was eventually forced out by a Conservative Party that finally realized she was becoming a liability. When will Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and the LDP realize that he is a liability?