Urgent Policy Recommendations for theNew Abe Administration
January 2013
Institute for International Policy Studies

In the election to the House of Representatives that was held on December 16, the newadministration won a total of 325 seats to secure a firm grasp on power. The past six
years have seen six different prime ministers—three each from the Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)—and Japanese politics has
continued to drift. However, since the new ruling party holds more than two-thirds ofthe seats in the House of Representatives (the proportion of votes required forresubmission of bills in the Lower House), it will be able to avoid the paralysis causedby the distortion between the Lower and Upper Houses, and thus run a stableadministration. The inauguration of the Abe administration is a golden opportunity forJapan to rid itself of the “politics of indecision.”On the other hand, Japan has little time left, and the new administration will be
expected to wholeheartedly apply itself to foreign policy, security, the rebuilding of theeconomy, and post-earthquake reconstruction, without wasting a single moment.
The Abe administration would be well advised to treat the following issues asmatters of urgency.
Security and foreign policy
The relationship of trust between Japan and the USA was undermined by the DPJ
administration, further destabilizing the security environment in East Asia. The security
environment surrounding Japan is growing harsher, in light of factors such as China’s
aggressive maritime expansion and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. US
President Obama has expounded a “Return to Asia” policy and is making visible efforts
to cooperate with Australia in stabilizing the region. In collaboration with the USA and
its allies, Japan should endeavor to eliminate destabilizing factors.
The key factor in Japan’s own security is that Japan itself must not stint in its efforts.
Japan must rapidly take the initiative and build up its defense capability in response tochanges in the security environment. To do so, it must secure sufficient equipment andpersonnel to improve the readiness and mobility of the Self-Defense Forces. This must
include strengthening the Coast Guard, which represents the first line of law
enforcement. Despite the severe fiscal conditions of recent times, Japan must review theoverall allocation of government resources and increase defense spending.
It is clear that—even in this region—a country cannot maintain its own security
unaided. In the face of domestic and overseas threats and crises, the entire international
community must, as a matter of course, cooperate to maintain or build the peace. To thisend, Japan must change its interpretation of the Constitution so as to enable it toexercise the right to collective self-defense, and develop a legal structure to allow active
Japanese participation in UN activities such as peacekeeping operations. These changes
should be based on the recommendations in the report produced by the Advisory Panelon Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security, which convened in June 2008.
On top of its own defense initiatives, it is essential that Japan strengthen its alliances,
so as to be prepared for contingencies and to establish deterrence. By attempting to-1-

develop the Japan-US Alliance into a solid “maritime alliance” based on shared values,
Japan should work towards the establishment of a stable regional order, which would
also involve collaboration with Australia, the ASEAN nations, and India.
However, a permanent or lasting peace will not be sustained solely by efforts in thedefense arena. In this light, it will be essential for Japan to enjoy stable relationships oftrust with neighboring nations. The key to this will be building relationships of trust at
the highest levels of leadership. With freshly minted administrations in both China andSouth Korea, Japan now has an excellent opportunity to rebuild its relationships withthese countries.
In order to strengthen the ability of the Prime Minister’s Office to exercise controlover security and foreign policy, the government must quickly establish a Japaneseversion of the NSC (the US National Security Council). To do so, it should, as rapidly
as possible, pass a bill that is akin to the Act for Establishment of the Security Councilof Japan (the bill to establish an NSC), which was shelved in 2007. Japan must also
move swiftly to put in place cyber-security arrangements, in order to prepare for threatsagainst the nation in cyberspace.
With regard to security and foreign policy, the parties should try to reach a sharedawareness of the issues—without introducing domestic politics. The major parties
should rise above partisan interests and aim to shape a public consensus over Japan’s
security and foreign policy. To this end, they must build a system for inter-party
cooperation and consultation.
Education reformIn the more than 60 years since the end of World War Two, the Japanese education
system has undergone no fundamental reform. Left behind in the wake of global
advances, Japanese education also no longer fulfills the basic goal of properly equipping
students to become useful members of society. The lack of internationalism on the partof members of the Japanese workforce represents a problem, and it would be desirable
to instill a sense of internationalism in Japanese students in the course of their education.
In the overall long-term interests of the nation, there is an urgent requirement for
education reform at every level, so as to provide elementary education that instills
proper values; secondary education that improves students’ basic academic knowledge
and communication skills; and higher education that produces well-rounded, cultured
individuals equipped with specialized knowledge, as well as an enhanced capacity forcritical thinking and improved problem-solving abilities.
Specifically, it is impossible to ignore the way in which the quality of university
education has deteriorated. Japan must aim for education that will produce the rightkind of people for a globalized society. As a matter of urgency, Japan must develop
people with the right grounding to enable them to survive in international society as
well as with a proper understanding of Japanese society, culture, and history. Japan
should aim to offer an elite international education; it should swiftly improve the qualityof higher education by picking out top universities and by merging some universities soas to make more effective use of educational resources.
Under the board of education system, reform has been neglected for many years.
This system has proved unable to solve even the problem of bullying and must be
fundamentally re-examined. Authority and responsibility should be given to regional
chiefs, and boards of education should be restructured into organizations for assistingthem.
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staff (the people who bear the responsibility for the education of students), such as theprovision of a mechanism for removing teachers based on objective evaluation, theappointment to teaching posts of people who possess life experience or a strong sense of
vocation, and the introduction of a fixed-tenure system.
Constitutional and political reformIn the recent Lower House election, the LDP won an overwhelming victory. However,since this was largely due to the prevalence of single-seat constituencies, it does notnecessarily represent an expression of unreserved confidence in the LDP on the part of
the Japanese people. The new Abe administration must keep this firmly in mind andpress on earnestly with political reform. First, it should be resolute in implementing thereduction in the number of Diet members that was agreed to by the LDP, the DPJ, andNew Komeito before the general election. In addition, it should swiftly carry out thereapportionment and the redistricting of constituencies, which will fundamentallyresolve the problem of the disparity in the value of a single vote, which the Supreme
Court has ruled unconstitutional. The administration should also straightawaycommence discussion of institutional solutions to the distortion between the Lower andUpper Houses—a cause of political paralysis—and of what the role of the House ofCouncillors should be, and should immediately initiate national debates on the pluses
and minuses of the highly unstable single-seat constituency system, on the suitability ofan electoral system combining proportional representation and single-seatconstituencies, and on measures for effecting reform. Finally, the administration shouldmake a swift decision on the use, in election campaigning, of online media, which are
now an established part of the social infrastructure.
Constitutional reform is also a topic that the Abe administration should address in adeliberate fashion, in tandem with a national debate on the subject. The Deliberative
Council on the Constitution must be reconvened at an early date, and the points fordiscussion clarified, with a view to the revision of the Constitution. Above all, thearguments regarding articles that are slated for revision must quickly be summarized.
Reconstruction and disaster prevention
Reconstruction in the disaster area resulting from the Great East Japan Earthquake
should be expedited. To this end, the administration must enhance the functions of theReconstruction Agency, which is responsible for swift reconstruction, to ensure thatreconstruction work is being carried out properly, and to secure the required budget forthis work.
The administration should also, as preparation in advance, promote the strengtheningof disaster reduction measures in order to minimize the damage from large-scaledisasters that are anticipated to occur in the future, such as enormous earthquakes ortsunamis. Above all, the government should swiftly conduct fact-finding surveys ofaging infrastructure (such as roads, bridges, water supplies, and sewage systems), so as
to avoid any recurrence of accidents like the collapse of the ceiling panels in the Sasago
Tunnel in December 2012. Based on the lifespan of these infrastructure items, it should
then secure the budget required for their repair, improvement, and subsequent
maintenance, and should devise appropriate countermeasures. During this process theemphasis must be on efficiency, and care must be taken to avoid pork-barrel politics.
Finance and the economy-3-As fears of an economic slowdown grow, the administration should formulate
emergency economic countermeasures, draw up a large supplementary budget tounderpin them and a budget for fiscal 2013 at the same time, and then move swiftly to
put these measures into effect.
Given that the government and the Bank of Japan share the objective of extricating
the Japanese economy from deflation, the administration must clearly articulate theirrespective roles so as to implement its policies effectively. This process will necessitatecloser cooperation between the government and the Bank of Japan.
Meanwhile, the administration must—as a matter of urgency—actively promoteeconomic cooperation in order to revitalize the Japanese economy. In particular, themost significant bone of contention between proponents and opponents of the TPP(Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) is the issue of whether entry into theTPP would be compatible with the revitalization of the Japanese agricultural industry.
In order to settle this dispute quickly, the government should affirm that joining the TPP
is potentially compatible with the revitalization of the agricultural industry and clearly
set out the various drastic policies needed to accomplish this transition successfully, as
well as the scale of budget that will be required.
The government should also unleash latent demand and support economic
development by means of unceasing regulatory reform, and—with a view to new
growth—it should take the lead in science and technology innovation, after having firstcarefully selected areas for strategic promotion.
The administration should also bring to reality a sustainable social insurance systemthat balances benefits and liabilities, in accord with the agreement reached by the DPJ,
the LDP, and New Komeito on comprehensive tax and social security reform.
EnergyWith public opinion divided over a nuclear power policy, it remains to be seen what thenature of the energy mix and environmental policies that Japan will adopt for the future
will be. After the lapse into confusion under the DPJ administration, the newadministration should first set out a clear direction for the country and then advance anuclear energy policy based on this course. New safety standards for nuclear powershould be formulated, after which nuclear power plants should be completely
overhauled and then restarted as quickly as possible. Another urgent (and parallel) task
will be to take measures to mitigate the substantial rise in expenditure on imported
liquid natural gas, which is due to the full-capacity thermal power generationnecessitated by the shutdown of the nuclear power plants.
As quickly as possible, the administration should also establish a new framework fora stable supply of energy that takes into account the trend in the USA towards
development of shale gas and the availability of supplies of renewable energy. It should
also engage in the development of alternative energy and new technology for efficientenergy use, and devote great effort to the training of nuclear power technicians who willensure safety.
Dealing with an aging society and the declining birthrate
The population of Japan has been declining since 2004. This greatly affects Japan’s
economy and society, and diminishes the nation’s standing in the internationalcommunity. Action must be taken. Measures relating to support for children andchildrearing were agreed upon as part of the comprehensive tax and social security-4-reform that was promoted in the three-party accord of 2012, and these should be put
into effect at an early date. Resolution of the issues of daycare waiting lists andafterschool childcare will have a direct bearing on female recruitment and the creationof new jobs. Since without a stable employment market for young people it is difficult
for them to realize their ambitions of getting married and raising children, theadministration should engage in a dialogue with the business community in a search forways to resolve this problem.
As well as being the result of external systemic factors, the problem of an aging
society and a declining birthrate is also due in large part to psychological factors whichcause the entire population—generation by generation—to harbor a vague sense ofunease regarding the future. The administration must strive to reduce this unease by
establishing an aspirational vision of Japan and an image of national life that the entire
country can share. The administration should endeavor to turn people’s anxiety andmistrust into hopes and aspirations by clearly articulating the processes and measuresnecessary to bring this shared vision to reality, as well as the roles that the people andthe state should play with respect to one another. It should seek the understanding of thepeople while maintaining transparency on issues that involve pain, such as tax increases
and institutional reform.

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