But there are signs the public is beginning to lose patience with this conveyer belt system and its debilitating drawbacks - a soaring public debt and Asia's worst economic performance over the past decade. If the South Korean vote is about whether financial and structural reform continues, then the Japanese ballot is about whether it ever restarts. Despite Japan's slide into a technical recession and the wide disparity between its growth rates and those of its Asian neighbours, the Obuchi Government has dropped its foot from the reform pedal with an alacrity that has startled even its harshest critics. Backsliding is evident everywhere. The Government has delayed a critical new banking reform, has refused to pressure its telephone giant NTT to cut its interconnection charges and will subside its own user-pays system for nursing care.
Defenders say such caution is inevitable in an election year.
Having torpedoed attempts to deregulate the taxi industry, the committee now wants to quash plans to liberalise liquor shop opening hours. This blatant pandering to sectional interests, in defiance of national objectives, is an LDP hallmark. Despite plunging urban support, the LDP is able to cling to office by pouring money into protected regional industries, like the corruption-plagued construction sector. This largesse is repaid in the form of big donations and a highly disciplined rural vote. The sad fact is that Japanese democracy, one of Asia's most stable since its postwar construction, is also one of its most flawed.