Regarding the April 27 front-page article "Ozawa not guilty of fund conspiracy": It was pretty obvious that the former president of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, would have to be found not guilty of conspiring to hide a ¥400 million payment to his fund management body, although in my view he is guilty of criminal negligence at the very least. A politician is responsible for what those working for him do. If he did not know what was going on, he should have; ¥400 million is not like forgotten pocket change.
The big question is, what happens next? Presumably Ozawa will press the Noda administration to stick to the 2009 DPJ manifesto, but if he thinks this is feasible, he is deluding himself. He might get the entire party to agree with him ... but nothing will change the fact that the opposition controls the Upper House and, therefore, can veto anything Ozawa wants to do.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party is also deluded in calling for a snap election. After half a century of corruption, cronyism, coverups and staggering uselessness, there is no way it can hope to win a commanding majority in any election. The naivete and detachment from reality would be comical if these people were not earning ¥21 million a year.
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.