Financial Times
June 15, 2000
From Ko Unoki
Sir, Yuko Obuchi, as far as we know, has not indicated what her political vision is or what she intends to do as a parliamentarian.
Normally, this should be an issue for voters when selecting a candidate. Yet, as your article indicates (“Former PM’s daughter set to scoop the dynasty vote”, June 14), there is a very good chance she will be elected by the good folk of her constituency for a seat in the national diet anyway, just because she happens to be the late prime minister’s daughter.
If it turns out to be the case that the majority of voters choose her because of her family name, this will indeed show to the world once again that Japanese parliamentary democracy is still nothing more than a primitive tribalism.
Ko Unoki
Senior Fellow,
21st Century Public Policy Institute,
Otemachi Building 3F,
1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, 100-0004, Japan
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