The Occupy Tokyo protest clearly demonstrates how public protests merely give a government the sanction to do as it pleases.
The "99 percent" have no idea how to resolve the world's problems. You will never get what you want because nothing anyone wants is reasonable. Voters clamor for concrete change but the only plausible, sustainable and meaningful form of political participation is a meritocratic democracy.
Representative democracy is a fraud that merely creates the pretence of participation, choice and due process.
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.
andrew sheldon