The biggest question in the Nov. 9 Lower House election is which side should take power -- a coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party or an alliance led by the Democratic Party of Japan. Also at stake is whether Japanese politics will be able to extricate itself from bureaucratic control.
The DPJ manifesto calls for bureaucratic decontrol, including reform of Japan Highway Public Corp. "Bureaucrats have led Japan in the wrong direction," declares DPJ head Naoto Kan. "We're determined to reverse that course."
Is it possible, as Kan puts it, to end the policymaking system controlled by the bureaucracy? The answer will depend largely on how voters judge the structural reform initiative of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who stresses the primacy of leadership in his office.