Is this not the largest political funding scandal in quite some time? The amounts and brazen corruption of it all make it understandable that the public doesn't trust Kishida on this issue.
Would you say that the LDP have become complacent after more than 10 years of remaining dominant in the polls no matter what? The Tokyo prosecutors have a reputation for being arbitrary and picking political winners and losers, but in this case they might actually be serving a useful function for Japanese democracy, delivering a much needed message of "let's not get greedy now."
My pet theory is the prosecutors actions are the bureaucracy taking their revenge on the Abe faction after the long years of the Abe-Suga domination.
Kishida's position does remind one of Kaifu and Miyazawa getting ruined by corruption scandals and collapse of the previously dominant super-faction (Takeshita faction then, Abe faction now).
To what end would the prosecutors take revenge? Do they favor a certain faction over the others? Without information beyond what's in the news, I understand that the prosecutors happened on this phenomenon via the Unification Church investigation and presumably decided to prosecute this blatant corruption because it's just so egregious. What looks like revenge might just be karma.
The prosecutors are extremely political (see the fake charges against Ozawa in 2008). That all this happens when there is no strong centre in the LDP is no accident. I don't think there was necessarily "now Abe's gone we can finally get them" conspiracy.
The prosecutors are loyal to their own institutional brand, the Ministry of Law, the bureaucracy, their Gakubatsu and the country in that order.
Its karma as well, the 一強 era was always based on surprisingly weak foundations. Corruption and scandal the traditional weakness of the LDP was always going to come back.
Is this not the largest political funding scandal in quite some time? The amounts and brazen corruption of it all make it understandable that the public doesn't trust Kishida on this issue.
Would you say that the LDP have become complacent after more than 10 years of remaining dominant in the polls no matter what? The Tokyo prosecutors have a reputation for being arbitrary and picking political winners and losers, but in this case they might actually be serving a useful function for Japanese democracy, delivering a much needed message of "let's not get greedy now."
My pet theory is the prosecutors actions are the bureaucracy taking their revenge on the Abe faction after the long years of the Abe-Suga domination.
Kishida's position does remind one of Kaifu and Miyazawa getting ruined by corruption scandals and collapse of the previously dominant super-faction (Takeshita faction then, Abe faction now).
To what end would the prosecutors take revenge? Do they favor a certain faction over the others? Without information beyond what's in the news, I understand that the prosecutors happened on this phenomenon via the Unification Church investigation and presumably decided to prosecute this blatant corruption because it's just so egregious. What looks like revenge might just be karma.
The prosecutors are extremely political (see the fake charges against Ozawa in 2008). That all this happens when there is no strong centre in the LDP is no accident. I don't think there was necessarily "now Abe's gone we can finally get them" conspiracy.
The prosecutors are loyal to their own institutional brand, the Ministry of Law, the bureaucracy, their Gakubatsu and the country in that order.
Its karma as well, the 一強 era was always based on surprisingly weak foundations. Corruption and scandal the traditional weakness of the LDP was always going to come back.