Interviewer: What do you think of Japanese politics after the end of Cold War?

Tsukahara: Japanese economic capacity suddenly turned into threat for the rest of the world, by the conclusion of the Cold War. We took a rather humble stance in military affairs and politics since the defeat of the war, while we were very aggressive in commercial activities. We had no choice but to put priority on economy as an acceptable policy, in order to get out of the state of a defeated country. Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda was once jeered at as a transistor salesman when he visited Europe. It's an ironical episode, but it's also at that time that the world began to take Japan seriously. As a result, however, it's true that Japan became too much an economically oriented nation. It's natural that Japan should play some political part among the industrialized world, after the collapse of order of the cold war. Looking at internal politics, LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), had been in power from 1955 to 1993, as ruling party. Since 1980s, however, a slogan "Think yourself," is imposed on Japan. Some of successive Prime Ministers such as Masayoshi Ohira and Yasuhiro Nakasone tried to solve the problem seriously, but 80s were gone without any obvious national goal setting. And we’ve finally entered into 90s.

Interviewer: You've been involved directly in policy making with the party's policy makers and the government's project team, but are you of an opinion that Japanese political leader are really trying to deal with the problem they face?

Tsukahara: The meaning of this question needs to be explained in detail. "The problem they face" means that the problem Japan should solve, in terms of both "in the world system" and "to maintain Japanese prosperity," and they are intricately related to each other. We're not allowed to be a spectator in establishing the world system, but strongly asked to advise what we must do for that. As for our domestic political system, we're required to achieve our own reform without any "Gaiatsu (Japanese political technique to operate politics by making up foreign political pressures on purpose)." But it's no longer effective for politicians to achieve the reform by themselves. The administrative power was taken over to the coalition government in 1993, which led political parties to center on adjustment and compromise to retain their power. Therefore, in my opinion, they haven’t tackled with the problem but only attempted to postpone dealing with it.

Interviewer: In the last Lower House election, Democratic Party of Japan gained a large support in urban areas. But I'm afraid that the gap between members elected from urban areas and those elected from local areas has increased. And the Upper House election is also scheduled for next summer. What's your prediction about it?

Tsukahara: The budget argument will be heated up due to severe financial issues in Japan. People began to advocate the catch phrase to the effect that taxes in urban areas must be used directly in those areas. Current support for Democratic Party of Japan is probably a temporary fad, and it'll fade out in no time. Shintaro Ishihara was elected as a Governor of Tokyo a year ago, but people in Tokyo didn't elect him just out of curiosity. Voters need a leader with a strong initiative, because they are fed up with lukewarm reforms and changes. Under these circumstances, Mr. Ishihara was very attractive for the people, because he doesn't mince his words. Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election will be held about the same time as the Upper House election in the next summer. Movements of novel political groups or new parties centering on Governor Ishihara will be sure to take place sooner or later.

Interviewer: How do you think will Japanese politics shift in the near future?

Tsukahara: Recently, among young politicians are those who advertise the concept that there should be an ideological axis of confrontation between politicians promoting the globalism and those pursuing the nationalism. They seem to call the former as Globalists and the latter as Nationalists. For example, politicians like Governor Ishihara, and Takeo Hiranuma, the Minister of International Trade and Industry, belong to the latter. But such an axis doesn't make sense in terms of politics. In my opinion, Japanese politics does need a real conservative power. In other words, we need to take a stance to tackle positively with global issues, as well as keeping our originality under the given circumstances and conditions. It is the role of the conservative power to strike the balance between globalism and nationalism.

Interviewer: What's the difference between conservative factions advocating so-called nationalism and that which you mentioned here?

Tsukahara: Conservationists I refer to here, means that they aren’t selfish but take part in global community to establish the international order. They don't support any movements showing off a peculiar nationalism, worshiping the national system of Meiji Era, and seeking for a kind of “Asianism,” as a counter-action against the struggle for a global standard. Above all, they don't have the same ideology. The information technology development has a major influence on the global community as a whole. And the predecessors could never experience such a situation as that currently facing us. I don't think we can overcome any crisis with the method developed by such petty nationalists and conservative intellectuals. Desirable conservative power for me is to keep a constructive stance against the solution for issues related to the human race, as well as aiming at the revival of conservative power in our own community.

Interviewer: In the end, do you have something to tell users of Japan Watch?

Tsukahara: Many users might regard the Japanese political system very complicated. Information concerning Japan has increased in volume, but it's definitely inadequate in quality. In Japan, there are few interviews to members in charge of policy making and it is quite hard to broadcast worldwide the opinions of leaders and those around them, in spite of the influence on the global market. Therefore, our role is becoming more and more significant in order to settle such problems. I hope misunderstandings and frictions of information will be reduced so that many intellectuals can concentrate on the constructive argument for our future.