09-01-2002, 07:04 PM
Tanaka wins Nagano in landslide
'No-dam' reformer regains post from which he was ejected
NAGANO (Kyodo) Yasuo Tanaka, who lost his job as governor of Nagano in July after the prefectural assembly passed a no-confidence motion against him, won back the post in a landslide election victory Sunday.
Yasuo Tanaka waves to supporters in the village of Asahi, Nagano Prefecture.
Tanaka, 46, who promised to carry on reform of the administration of this traditionally conservative prefecture, defeated five contenders, including his closest rival Keiko Hasegawa, a 50-year-old lawyer backed by organized labor and unofficially supported by key local political groups.
When 95 percent of the votes were counted, Tanaka had obtained 805,201 votes, more than double the 379,200 votes for Hasegawa.
Following his victory, Tanaka renewed his pledge to scrap two controversial dam construction projects -- the very issue that triggered the showdown with the assembly in July.
He also said once back in office, he would review the prefecture's policy on public works, including flood control and agricultural projects.
Tanaka is scheduled to regain his position as governor when the election result is made official Tuesday, and to return to his office Thursday.
Meanwhile, Yukio Kotagiri, Tanaka's leading opponent in the prefectural assembly, said Sunday night that he would resign from the assembly. Kotagiri, the eldest member of the assembly at 88, took the initiative in passing the no-confidence motion against Tanaka on July 5.
One of the major tasks facing Tanaka will be to rebuild the relationship with the assembly, who ousted him with a no-confidence vote of 44 to 5.
Reflecting high public interest in the race, voter turnout reached 73.78 percent, compared with 69.75 percent in the October 2000 election, when Tanaka was first elected.
As the 1.76 million Nagano voters went to the polls, the temperature in Nagano city hit 36.3 degrees -- the highest so far this year and the highest on record for September.
Tanaka, an award-winning writer, competed with Hasegawa; company presidents Shu Ichikawa, 51, and Hideyoshi Hashiba, 52; lawyer Tomio Fukui, 77; and Chozo Nakagawa, a 46-year-old former company worker.
Half of the Nagano voters who responded to an exit poll by Kyodo News said they chose their candidate on the basis of their expectations for reform, and 80 percent of such respondents said they voted for Tanaka.
"I will continue administrative reforms in the prefectural government with a firm resolve and firm action, and without any private benefits," Tanaka told some 100 supporters in a congratulatory gathering in the village of Asahi.
"I want more people in Nagano to work with enthusiasm, and today marks a major step to change Japan," Tanaka said.
The result of the poll is not likely to have any immediate effect on the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, with the contest seen largely as a test of Tanaka's unique political methods and with none of the major political parties officially supporting any of the candidates.
But Tanaka's election to another term again calls into question long-held beliefs in Japan that support from prefectural assembly members or backing by major political parties is indispensable for victory.
Some lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party express concern that such a trend could be repeated in a series of Diet by-elections in October as well as unified local elections in April.
Sunday's election was the result of Tanaka's showdown with the Nagano Prefectural Assembly, most of whose members criticized Tanaka for his pledge to review public works projects and called his political style "self-righteous."
Tanaka has often been at odds since he was elected to the post in 2000 by defeating a former deputy governor widely considered the heir to the outgoing Gov. Goro Yoshimura, who held the post for 20 years.
Nagano had only three governors in the postwar era before Tanaka, two of whom were former bureaucrats.
Last year, Tanaka unveiled his "no-dam" policy by announcing that the prefecture would avoid building concrete dams as much as possible, citing the environmental damage caused by such projects.
In line with the no-dam policy, Tanaka earlier this year said his administration will scrap the two controversial dam projects in the prefecture -- the Asakawa and Shimosuwa dams -- triggering the showdown with the assembly.
The assembly passed the no-confidence motion July 5, and Tanaka, without dissolving the assembly, lost his job 10 days later, a move that automatically triggered the election.
Tanaka was the first prefectural governor in Japan to suffer an assembly no-confidence measure since 1976.
While Tanaka won a landslide in Sunday's election, he still has to contend with the prefectural assembly that ousted him as governor in July by an overwhelming majority.
Tanaka is expected to seek ways to rebuild his relations with the assembly members, who, in turn, will face voters' judgment in an assembly election scheduled in April 2003.
During the race, none of the six candidates, including Tanaka, received official support from any of the major political parties -- a rarity in Japanese elections.
Hasegawa was backed by labor union votes and received unofficial support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as well as many of the local assemblymen and heads of municipal governments in Nagano.
Tanaka's no-dam policy did not surface as a major campaign issue because his contenders did not openly oppose the policy and mostly focused on his political style and soured relations with the assembly. Tanaka called for voter support by promising to carry on with his reform efforts once re-elected, while his main rival Hasegawa denounced Tanaka for his confrontation with the assembly and promised to put Nagano's politics in order through dialogue.
Wait and see
The land ministry will take a wait-and-see attitude following dam-opponent Yasuo Tanaka's election as Nagano governor again Sunday, a ministry official said.
"I reserve judgment until Nagano Prefecture works out concrete individual flood-control plans," the official said, reiterating the same message given by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport when Tanaka declared his no-dam policy in February 2001.
One of the two sticking points facing Tanaka is the more than 10 billion yen the state has paid in subsidies for building two dams he has declared unnecessary. The other is whether the state will subsidize flood control plans that do not rely on dams.
If the central Japan prefecture proposes less effective flood control involving no dam construction, the ministry could order the return of the subsidies in the belief that the prefecture has lost the will to proceed with its sanctioned projects.
On the Shimosuwa dam project, one of the two dam projects Tanaka has declared unnecessary, the official said the alternative plan to reinforce a river downstream would be difficult to carry out because many houses are built near the river.
The official also cited the difficulty of obtaining consent from the city of Okaya in the mountainous prefecture, which intends to obtain drinking water from the dam.
"Even if the new plan is adopted, if its costs turn out to be higher than those of the dam project and its benefits suspect, the Board of Audit will find such a plan problematic," the official warned.
The Board of Audit is the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. General Accounting Office and examines the use of public funds and their effectiveness.
The Japan Times: Sept. 2, 2002
(C) All rights reserved
'No-dam' reformer regains post from which he was ejected
NAGANO (Kyodo) Yasuo Tanaka, who lost his job as governor of Nagano in July after the prefectural assembly passed a no-confidence motion against him, won back the post in a landslide election victory Sunday.
Yasuo Tanaka waves to supporters in the village of Asahi, Nagano Prefecture.
Tanaka, 46, who promised to carry on reform of the administration of this traditionally conservative prefecture, defeated five contenders, including his closest rival Keiko Hasegawa, a 50-year-old lawyer backed by organized labor and unofficially supported by key local political groups.
When 95 percent of the votes were counted, Tanaka had obtained 805,201 votes, more than double the 379,200 votes for Hasegawa.
Following his victory, Tanaka renewed his pledge to scrap two controversial dam construction projects -- the very issue that triggered the showdown with the assembly in July.
He also said once back in office, he would review the prefecture's policy on public works, including flood control and agricultural projects.
Tanaka is scheduled to regain his position as governor when the election result is made official Tuesday, and to return to his office Thursday.
Meanwhile, Yukio Kotagiri, Tanaka's leading opponent in the prefectural assembly, said Sunday night that he would resign from the assembly. Kotagiri, the eldest member of the assembly at 88, took the initiative in passing the no-confidence motion against Tanaka on July 5.
One of the major tasks facing Tanaka will be to rebuild the relationship with the assembly, who ousted him with a no-confidence vote of 44 to 5.
Reflecting high public interest in the race, voter turnout reached 73.78 percent, compared with 69.75 percent in the October 2000 election, when Tanaka was first elected.
As the 1.76 million Nagano voters went to the polls, the temperature in Nagano city hit 36.3 degrees -- the highest so far this year and the highest on record for September.
Tanaka, an award-winning writer, competed with Hasegawa; company presidents Shu Ichikawa, 51, and Hideyoshi Hashiba, 52; lawyer Tomio Fukui, 77; and Chozo Nakagawa, a 46-year-old former company worker.
Half of the Nagano voters who responded to an exit poll by Kyodo News said they chose their candidate on the basis of their expectations for reform, and 80 percent of such respondents said they voted for Tanaka.
"I will continue administrative reforms in the prefectural government with a firm resolve and firm action, and without any private benefits," Tanaka told some 100 supporters in a congratulatory gathering in the village of Asahi.
"I want more people in Nagano to work with enthusiasm, and today marks a major step to change Japan," Tanaka said.
The result of the poll is not likely to have any immediate effect on the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, with the contest seen largely as a test of Tanaka's unique political methods and with none of the major political parties officially supporting any of the candidates.
But Tanaka's election to another term again calls into question long-held beliefs in Japan that support from prefectural assembly members or backing by major political parties is indispensable for victory.
Some lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party express concern that such a trend could be repeated in a series of Diet by-elections in October as well as unified local elections in April.
Sunday's election was the result of Tanaka's showdown with the Nagano Prefectural Assembly, most of whose members criticized Tanaka for his pledge to review public works projects and called his political style "self-righteous."
Tanaka has often been at odds since he was elected to the post in 2000 by defeating a former deputy governor widely considered the heir to the outgoing Gov. Goro Yoshimura, who held the post for 20 years.
Nagano had only three governors in the postwar era before Tanaka, two of whom were former bureaucrats.
Last year, Tanaka unveiled his "no-dam" policy by announcing that the prefecture would avoid building concrete dams as much as possible, citing the environmental damage caused by such projects.
In line with the no-dam policy, Tanaka earlier this year said his administration will scrap the two controversial dam projects in the prefecture -- the Asakawa and Shimosuwa dams -- triggering the showdown with the assembly.
The assembly passed the no-confidence motion July 5, and Tanaka, without dissolving the assembly, lost his job 10 days later, a move that automatically triggered the election.
Tanaka was the first prefectural governor in Japan to suffer an assembly no-confidence measure since 1976.
While Tanaka won a landslide in Sunday's election, he still has to contend with the prefectural assembly that ousted him as governor in July by an overwhelming majority.
Tanaka is expected to seek ways to rebuild his relations with the assembly members, who, in turn, will face voters' judgment in an assembly election scheduled in April 2003.
During the race, none of the six candidates, including Tanaka, received official support from any of the major political parties -- a rarity in Japanese elections.
Hasegawa was backed by labor union votes and received unofficial support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as well as many of the local assemblymen and heads of municipal governments in Nagano.
Tanaka's no-dam policy did not surface as a major campaign issue because his contenders did not openly oppose the policy and mostly focused on his political style and soured relations with the assembly. Tanaka called for voter support by promising to carry on with his reform efforts once re-elected, while his main rival Hasegawa denounced Tanaka for his confrontation with the assembly and promised to put Nagano's politics in order through dialogue.
Wait and see
The land ministry will take a wait-and-see attitude following dam-opponent Yasuo Tanaka's election as Nagano governor again Sunday, a ministry official said.
"I reserve judgment until Nagano Prefecture works out concrete individual flood-control plans," the official said, reiterating the same message given by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport when Tanaka declared his no-dam policy in February 2001.
One of the two sticking points facing Tanaka is the more than 10 billion yen the state has paid in subsidies for building two dams he has declared unnecessary. The other is whether the state will subsidize flood control plans that do not rely on dams.
If the central Japan prefecture proposes less effective flood control involving no dam construction, the ministry could order the return of the subsidies in the belief that the prefecture has lost the will to proceed with its sanctioned projects.
On the Shimosuwa dam project, one of the two dam projects Tanaka has declared unnecessary, the official said the alternative plan to reinforce a river downstream would be difficult to carry out because many houses are built near the river.
The official also cited the difficulty of obtaining consent from the city of Okaya in the mountainous prefecture, which intends to obtain drinking water from the dam.
"Even if the new plan is adopted, if its costs turn out to be higher than those of the dam project and its benefits suspect, the Board of Audit will find such a plan problematic," the official warned.
The Board of Audit is the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. General Accounting Office and examines the use of public funds and their effectiveness.
The Japan Times: Sept. 2, 2002
(C) All rights reserved