Is the funding scandal unraveling the LDP?

In Japan, there’s a phrase tied to monetary scandals that disrupt the political panorama: seiji to kane, or “politics and cash.”

Every time a scandal emerges that elicits widespread use of this phrase, observers can count on politicized responses geared toward mollifying public outrage somewhat than developing with sensible options to stem the foundation causes. The result’s often a flurry of window-dressing, a interval of discord inside political circles and an eventual stabilization till a brand new seiji to kane downside initiates the following cycle.

The scenario surrounding the newest political funding scandal — that’s, Liberal Democratic Celebration factions’ underreporting and misallocation of cash from fundraising events — isn’t any totally different. Dealing with important scrutiny amid already dwindling public opinion rankings, the LDP opted to dispose of its factions — a system that has been accused by critics for being opaque, insular and enabling political horse-trading. ​​Factions have such a nasty rap, one might name it the F-word in Nagatacho, Japan’s political heart.