UA-cam seems to have tweaked the algorithm to promote smaller channels, and videos like this makes me really appreciate the change. Promising channel, keep up the good work!
Working on the next video right now! it should be out this week. I'm thankful for the algorithm and that so many kind people have been so encouraging in the comments
Japanese here. I just wanted to thank you, because despite I've been watching almost exclusively English essay/short-documentary style contents on UA-cam for about 4 years at this point, this was somehow the first time I've found anyone who could even scratch the surface of the nature of LDP. And not only that, I actually learned new things from your video. If I could add some comments to this, I would say that this way of having a big tent for everyone, and putting emphasis on inner coordination of interests rather than confrontation and/or competition, is something that fit very well to traditional Japanese culture. When someone says Japanese people value "harmony" and hate open confrontation, this, this system of LDP, is I think one of the biggest examples of that.
Thanks so much for the kind words! A good English language channel on Japanese politics you might enjoy is Langley Esquire. They haven't posted as much recently but have some really good videos discussing the LDP as well as the Komeito and Japanese Communist parties
You always oppose someone in politics. Even if you vote LDP, you would oppose certain LDP factions and all the opposition parties. If you don't vote you oppose the entire democratic system of your nation and indirectly oppose smaller parties and smaller LDP factions as well. There will always be atleast one politician, who doesn't like your existence and what it represents. In politics there can never be harmony.
@@vodlistener You're very right. My comment was more about how people perceive and act (that's what "culture" means), rather than about the reality of the system. Also you can argue that with different cultures comes different definitions of "politics". I'm neither defending nor praising the LDP system. It's just that it has its reasons to exist, which of course include cultural ones.
Funnily enough, this is the reason the Chinese give for their support of the Communist Party of China, that the CCP is a big tent, and many people are in it with various interests and wrestling for power at the top. However, Japan in my view is significantly culturally more collectivist than China is.
That being said, this is similar to the even more authoritarian People's Action Party in Singapore. Founded in 1954 as center-left, PAP became increasingly more right after Lee Kuan Yew expelled the leftist faction in 1961 the year before Singapore merged with Malaysia. After Singapore was kicked out in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew won the 1968 general election unopposed, and his party won all 58 seats. He and his administration wielded absolute power over Singapore's political scene until 1990, and the party has remained the dominant party in Singaporean politics today. He managed to transform Singapore from an impoverished society to a center of aviation, tourism, banking, and shipping. But hidden behind all this, he curtailed press freedom, imposed restrictions on protesting, restricted labor movements from industrial action or strike action, suppressed wage growth of skilled workers (in order to be competitive with developing countries) amid widening and high levels of income inequality along with wealth inequality (relative to other developed countries), and attempted to dismantle any political opposition by engaging in defamation lawsuits. Lee Kuan Yew was also quite the eugenicist. And this isn't even mentioning money laundering schemes, rental discrimination towards Indian Singaporeans, people in academia in positions of power abusing people underneath them and getting away with it, or the poor migrant labor that has been encouraged, like through the country's maid or helper culture. For a while, Singapore has had a fairly high Gini coefficient, a measurement of inequality where the higher you are, the more unequal your country is. The reality of migrant domestic work in Singapore is often characterized by a power imbalance, potential for exploitation, social isolation, and limited legal protections, with many migrant domestic workers (or MDWs) facing long working hours, restricted personal freedoms, and vulnerability to abuse from employers, despite legal regulations aimed at safeguarding their rights. Migrant workers often must take on serious debt, and their health and safety are in the hand of their employers. Between 2014 and 2021, an average of 12,770 workers (including Singaporeans) were injured every year. So despite being an integral group of workers in Singapore, propelling its economic and social growth, many MDWs are treated as outsiders, and the legal system doesn't typically work in their favor, so they're forced to repatriate with a ton of debt. Although Singapore has increased representation by the opposition now and created a Leader of the Opposition position in 2020 (the opposition is led by the socdem Workers' Party; there's also the progressive Progress Singapore), it continues to be criticized for not doing enough because of free speech restrictions and labor rights abuses. Oh yeah, and because of Singapore-Israel relations, Singapore has stamped out public protests in support of the Palestinian people, they've been harassing and intimidating students for expressing their solidarity with the Palestinians. Pro-Palestinian students in Singapore have been subjected to police surveillance and intimidation. In Singapore, NUS and NTU have partnerships with Thales, one of Israel's largest arms suppliers, and the Israeli Aerospace Industries, whose weapons have been used in Gaza. In 2024, Israeli arms manufacturers took part in the Singapore Airshow, displaying weapons that are currently being used against Palestinians.
The LDP reminds me of the state American parties were in during the 1950s and 1960s. Where you can have extremely right winger politicians like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond on the same party platform as liberals like John F Kennedy. (For a Republican example, like having Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater running with Thomas Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller)
Even today, the Democrats & Republicans are still somewhat big tent. You have Senators like Rand Paul (liberal) and Susan Collins (centrist, statist) under the same party. Likewise, even though the Democratic Party has grown more extreme in the past decade, they have some broad ideological representation, through politicians such as Senator Joe Manchin (centrist) and Representative AOC (socialist). Also, Richard Nixon was likely closer to Dewey than Goldwater. Dewey & Nixon supported many of the Progressive Era bills, while Goldwater opposed them. Barry Goldwater's ideology helped mould America's modern Libertarian party. He often disagreed with Nixon's policies, and told Nixon he and other Republican Senators would vote yes in Nixon's impeachment trial.
@@johkupohkuxd1697 My concern is if a political party has both right and left elements then what are the voters getting? I guess just the vote on the party itself and not a specific direction. I think that would make it hard for the party to make decisions and govern if a vote for them is not the public vote of confidence on any particular political direction, just like giving a blank check, the voters are just telling the party, here you figure it out.... I guess I can see it as a cultural thing but from a western country perspective It just seems so unusual.
It hasnt changed a bit. The fact we have Trump and George Bush on the same political party, is basically the same thing. Trump has the foreign policy of Bernie Sanders combined with the economics of George Bush. Hes not some diehard rightwinger, but basically a neo-liberal on steroids. Modern day republicans arent conservative in the slightest. Their just neo-liberals. The Democrat party seems to have much more conservatives (in the economic/foreign policy front) nowadays if Il be real with you.
Good. Haven't seen anyone talk about the 1955 system for a while. A few things to add here though, the Liberal party that was led by Yoshida Shigeru was not a "liberal" party in the American sense. It was "liberal" (classical liberalism) in the European sense, so, it was on the right. It promoted free-market capitalism, free trade, conservatism, and a pro-American foreign policy, which gave rise to the so-called "Yoshida doctrine" that dominated the first half of the post-war years. On the other hand, the Democratic party was more like a traditional conservative party that supported Japan's sovereignty, anti-US interferences, and rearmament. It was led by Hatoyama Ichiro, who during the pre-war period attempted to negotiate with the West while at the same time attempting to save Japan's sovereignty. The Democrats were far to the right than the Liberals on social matters. After the 1955 merger, the LDP was essentially fragmented with factions within the party originating from the fact that two kinds of conservative groups joined together to prevent the Socialist Party from gaining a foothold in the government (The Socialists were themselves split into the Leftist [Marxist] wing and Rightist [social democracy] wing. The merger to form the LDP was a reaction by two different conservatives when the Socialists united). Why don't you do the next video on "The 6th Party Congress of the Japanese Communist Party" or something like "The Continual Decline of the Left-Wing Parties [JCP and JSP] in Japan". These might explain why leftism failed in Japan and why a practical and "realpolitik" conservative party like the LDP has been ruling since 1955 (except for 1994 and 2009-2012).
Should note that the American use of the word "Liberal" is much a misappropriation of the term. In America, Progressives started misusing the word "Liberal" in the early 20th-century to avoid using the term "Socialism." America has largely kept that nomenclature.
@@Pan_Z American progressives like FDR or LBJ aren't socialists as much as they are big government welfarist social liberals in the vein of Woodrow Wilson and Ted Roosevelt. (Maybe not the social liberal part) Economically they're closer to the various right wing parties in post-Soviet Europe like the PiS in Poland or the Islamic Brotherhood than the Labour/Eurocommunists
@@Pan_Z Yes, starting in the 1930s, New Dealers began to represent themselves as "[modern/social] liberal" as opposed to "[classical] liberal" of the Old Right. This shift was because New Dealers claimed that social democratic, progressive, and leftist policies were needed to maintain social justice. They presented "liberalism" in a utilitarian sense, i.e., in line with Jeremy Bentham's and John Stuart Mill's "social liberalism". John Rawls went on to make it more compatible with the American classical liberal society during the post-war years.
Some liberal parties can also be considered centrist in Europe, like the FDP in Germany, which variously enters coalitions with the CDU/CSU and SPD/Gruenen. Euro liberalism isn't necessarily conservative on social values; Euro liberal parties often have a strong social liberal faction. Canadian liberalism aligns with Americans as left wing. UK liberalism is centrist like the Euro version (LDP) and social liberal. In Australia and NZ, liberalism is considered right wing; the main conservative party in Australia is actually called the Liberal Party.
@@overworlder You're touching upon how the left-right political spectrum is (literally) one-dimensional, and often limiting. Liberal parties can be socially progressive or conservative depending upon the country. Their commonality is usually in regards to economics, where they advocate for less taxes, less state involvement in the economy, ect... The "Liberals" in America & Canada are known as Social Liberals, Progressive Liberals, Progressives, and Social Democrats in other countries. The important thing to note about Liberalism is it's never characterised as Left-wing in the economic sense due to its opposition to state control of the economy.
ive been looking for videos on japanese politics for awhile, so im super glad i finally found a channel that wants to cover them! instantly subbed, nice video!
Glad you enjoyed the video! I felt the same way! that's why I wanted to make this video because I felt Japanese politics was really really interesting but I couldn't find enough content on it on UA-cam that presented it in a fun way.
I guess the best description of Japan would be a "One Party Plus" system, where only one party is going to hold power and win elections, but other parties exist and win some seats, similar to Commonwealth Countries like UK/Canada/Australia/NZ being "Two Party Plus" systems.
Australia might be on course to change as independents got pretty decent results in the last election thanks to a voting system where you can vote for who you want rather than against someone without fear of "wasting" your vote.
"Liberal" outside of the US means to support free markets and private property. It's seen as a centre-right ideology in other countries. By that definition the LDP's name makes sense
So the anti-NHK one has actually changed their name multiple times like "NHK License Fee Nonpayment Party", "The Party to Protect the People from NHK", "The Party to Protect People from Old Political Parties", "The Party That Teaches How to Not Pay the NHK License Fee" (I kid you not with these names), and on March 8, 2023 to the Seijika Joshi 48 Party or "Political Women's 48". While the main topic of the party is to, as they say it best, "Destroy NHK", they've now expanded to different issues including lowering taxes, increasing military defense, and reaching energy independence through nuclear energy. People like to think there's only one party in the DPRK, but there's more than one! Within the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly, there are three other parties. The KSDP or Korean Social Democratic Party with 50 seats (since 2014), the Chondoist Chongu Party (a Korean pantheistic religion) with 22 seats (since 2014), and the Chongryon (to represent Zainichi Koreans in Japan who affiliate with the DPRK) with 6 seats. There are also two Independents. In China's National People's Congress, they have eight minor parties. The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (founded by members of the left-wing faction of the Kuomintang, they now follow a "New Three Principles of the People"), China Democratic League (mostly consists of mid and senior-level intellectuals in the fields of culture, education, natural and social sciences, and technology; had 356,900 members by December 2023), China National Democratic Construction Association (mainly entrepreneurs and others in the fields of economics), China Association for Promoting Democracy (mainly represents high-level intellectuals engaged in education and cultural publishing media), Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party (also founded by left-wing members of the Kuomintang, mainly made up of members who mostly work in the fields of public health, medicine, and associated fields in science and technology), China Zhi Gong Party (mainly returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, as well as people with overseas connections), Jiusan Society (currently consists of high- and medium-level intellectuals in the fields of science, technology, and education), and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (mostly composed of prominent people from Taiwan or people of Taiwanese heritage who now reside on the mainland).
Please, I know you're new, but this is a channel I can really get behind. I'd love more videos like these on nations that rarely get covered. As an American watcher, it's so rare to see videos like these being made for us.
"The liberals and the democrats joined forces to form a strong conservative opposition to the Japanese left" Somethings not adding up here in my American brain lol
It’s hard to grasp because the US doesn’t have to truly leftist party (a la socialist or communist party). Our political spectrum is VERY limited compared to others.
Well, you have to understand that in many parts of the world "liberalism" mostly just means economic liberalism (as in right wing fiscal conservatism) and that liberal parties are usually characterized as centrist or even centre-right parties on the basis of being economically right wing with some support to cultural liberalism. Left wing parties are usually social democratic (basically what the most "left-wing" and "progressive" politicians in america believe in, like Bernie Sanders) in the centre-left and the moderate left wing, and full on socialist or communist parties that oppose capitalism to the left of them. In Japan the liberal party was a full on conservative party that just supported a more "free-market" approach than the super conservative democratic party, and both parties united due to their joint conservative nature. Also, if you think that's confusing, try Portugese politics, with a centre-right party called "the social democratic party" that isn't at all social democratic and a "socialist party" that is social democratic. P.S- I hope you understood my explanation and I would happily answer any questions about politics outside the US of A.
I am a member of the LDP party. The LDP is often described abroad as a right-wing party, but I felt that was a very superficial commentary. In reality, as expressed in this video, it is supported by a diverse group of people. The current president, Fumio Kishida, is considered a leftist figure within the LDP, but his foreign and defense policies are relatively satisfactory to the right. They have no qualms about adopting the best aspects of policy from the outside world, and are often referred to as the department store of policy. The LDP's long-term hold on power in Japan can be attributed not only to its industrial ties and broad base of supporters, but also to its "enemy lost". In the past, when the DPJ came to power, they failed to deliver on many of their key promises. Now they are in the center of the opposition, but they have not fully regained the trust of the Japanese people.
Well done! Ever since I've heard that Japan has one rulining party Ive been curious as to why, and this video provided the best explanation Ive seen so far.
Finally, a video talking about Japan being a de facto one-party state. My personal guesses/observations were proven correct, because I've really been wondering on why the LDP has been dominating in ruling Japan since 1955. Guess it really is true that it is a de facto one-party state. Also a bit related but Britain also kind of has a similar situation with Japan, in the sense that the Conservative Party over there has been ruling the country for the past 13 years since Cameron came in and Labour really hasn't had another prime minister after Blair (as of writing this that is, hope it ages well for Labour to win the next general elections). Thank you for existing and making this because this is very educational and Japanese politics are generally underrated in most of the world. And with like everyone else in this comment section, I hope that you go places/eventually become popular with being lucky in the UA-cam algorithm.
@@kapatidtomas No worries. He’s nowhere near as well known as Blair, but was quite powerful in Blair’s government (made a deal to stand down in the leadership election in exchange for more freedom in his role as chancellor of the exchequer), basically lost in 2010 because of the global financial crisis he didn’t really have control over, and since then has continually advocated for causes like ending poverty, championing the 500,000 children lifted out of poverty during the New Labour years and decrying the massive increase under the tories (1/3 of all children in my city are in poverty).
@@ProsecutorZekrom Damn bro, I'm from the Philippines, but as I've heard, the economic situation in Britain is getting bad. Hope all the best for the working classes of the world.
@@attiepollard7847 Got any evidence the KGB was behind the left parties in Japan? Also the US occupied Japan for ten years prior so how would the KGB been able to get a foothold in Japan sounds like the Japanese people by their own volition wanted more left parties but the CIA stopped that and let a bunch of class A war criminals band together to put Japan under a 1 party state.
0:25 As somebody who has lived in many countries, the American two-party system is no longer between a centre-left and centre-right party but a centre-right and far-right party.
This is true. Both are neoliberal and the more left party (the democrats) definitely are further right than many center parties elsewhere. They like to pretend they are left leaning when they don't have power though
@kordellswoffer1520 Mate, I have relatives who live in the US, I had to do my A-level in US politics, currently study politics at Uni and I follow it more than most Americans do, I have pretty good knowledge about it. If you look at any other country and their two party system whether it's the Labour and the Conservative Parties in the UK, CDU and SPD in Germany, Conservatives and Liberals in Canada, Liberal and Labor parties in Australia or ANC and DA in South Africa, the US Democratic party more closely align with the right-leaning party and the Republicans' ideology is only seen in fringe Far-right parties. Most Dems don't support universal healthcare or higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses and actually take quite a hard line on immigration. Many Republicans still oppose abortion and same-sex marriage even though most Conservative parties in the rest of the world acknowledge these as fundamental rights. In most of the world "liberal" means centrist or centre-right, not "Left-wing" like it does in the States. Your country's politics is probably most comparable to modern France as the two largest parties are a Liberal/centre-right and a far-right party, although a more left-wing alliance is likely to overtake the centrists the next election.
I think it was really important that you clarified why Japan's apparent "one party state" status is different from other countries like China or North Korea, or even the early 20th century southern US. Unlike in those countires, the LDP still can lose elections, but it's willing to compromise with the other parties and make changes to appease the populous to keep itself in power. It also has a lot of built-in advantages with the system, yes, but those advantages are not so great that it makes them completely invincible.
@@lesterdsouza205 it is still a one party state where corruption is institutionalized... Eventually they will take back all those concessions when it's too inconvenient. It's why the people now are working longer and harder than ever before and suicide rates are through the roof and death by work exhaustion is common place...
@@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74 It was still not a one-party state but rather a dominant party democracy. Unlike in North Korea or China, the LDP can actually lose the election whereas in China other parties just getting a ministerial position is considered a great achievement (yes, the PRC has 8 minor parties outside the Chinese Communist Party)
@@catmonarchist8920 Compared to other Democracys like Western or Northern Europe yes they are Far Right and Center Right. I mean the Democrats would call our Center left Party (SPD) Communists and the Republicans would probably call them Satanic. Your Partys are mutch but not normal
The LDP is a liberal party. Their ideology is based on classical liberalism, it’s just that the US twisted the world “liberal” to mean socially left wing. It’s disingenuous and simplistic to just paint the LDP as some Conservative Party. Some factions within it are, but certain of their policies would also be seen as very left wing in other countries.
Japan is a democracy but it isn't culturally democratic. Japanese tend to defer to authority, hierarchy, and seniority. A hypothetical: if Flight 93 had been filled with Japanese passengers, they would not have voted to take back the plane; they would have deferred to the most senior authority figure to give the green light. Same result-- different thought process.
My meager understanding is that "Liberal" does not mean the same thing in the U.S. that it does in rest of the world. In the U.S., it means "populist social democratic left", whereas elsewhere in the world, it means something closer to "libertarian". This meaning remains in U.S. English in words like "economic liberalization", "liberalized economy", etc. Anyway, so it's no surprise (to me, at least) that the party opposed to socialism would call themselves the "liberal" party in Japan.
Yes, the LDP fit the definition of classical liberals, in that they espouse economic autonomy and deregulation. They are most definitely liberals, only someone with a US specific understanding of the world “liberal” would disagree.
No you are wrong the whole world uses the same political metric what is liberal in the USA is liberal everywhere else read a book next time literally no country uses economics to judge there party’s you people don’t know what you are talking about
This video covers how the LDP has a robust system of keeping its voters & funders content, but skims over just how biased Japan's electoral process is in favour of the ruling party. 1) As mentioned in the video, Japan uses a mixed system for elections. However, the numbers reveal the bias. Of the 465 seats in Shuugiin (The Lower House), 289 are single seat constituencies assigned via First-Past-The-Post. 176 are determined by Proportional Representation using the Jefferson/D'Hondt Method. The LDP, being the largest Japanese party, usually receive only about 1/3rd of the nation's votes. Plurality voting, however, *heavily* favours the largest parties, and this is reflected in results. The LDP receives about 1/3rd of the seats from Proportional Representation, but about half the single-seat constituencies. With most seats being determined by First-Past-The-Post, FPTP favouring the largest party, and the government (which is almost always controlled by the LDP) gerrymandering these districts, the electoral process is weighted toward the LDP. 2) Japan allocates public funding of parties through the amount of seats obtained in the National Diet, not percent of the vote received each election. Favours the largest parties. 3) Flat out spying on the opposition. The Japanese Communist Party, while only 10 seats in Shuugiin, is under surveillance by police for being an "anti-social group." This disincentives people from joining the party, lest they be subject to police monitoring. 4) The Prime Minister (almost always of the LDP) can decide to hold a snap election at his agency. This allows elections to be held while the ruling parties popularity is high.
As a European, hearing the democrats and republicans described as centre left and centre right is so funny to me, as over here they seem closer to our centre right and far right respectively
Dope video I love the style but the sound effects were just slightly too loud. I loved the effect they had on the video tho just may wanna make them more quiet in future videos.
Trying to explain Hondt in a comment: You divide each candidate list number of votes by 2, 3, 4, 5, etc, thus forming a table. You start selecting the seats won by the largest number, first, and going down until you finish all the seats to be filled. In case of a draw, at any point, you select the candidate with less overall votes. There you go, I think I did it!
@@jorge6207 it favours larger parties so it kind of does. Poland and Portugal have one party governments on much less than half the vote that they probably wouldn't have under one of the other systems like Sainte-Laguë.
0:25 Democrats aren't center-left. They're very centrist. Like in Europe they'd be more similar to parties like the CDU than the SPD. They have a couple center-left politicians like AOC and Bernie but that's the exception.
Nope the Dems are center left by every metic the world uses the same political metic system read a book next time you don’t know history do you lmao euros never learn lmao 🤣
@@iamthinking2252_ I do wonder how things would have been had 3/11 not happened, the chaos and uncertainty of the aftermath is one of the reasons why voters flock back to voting for the LDP.
No one is going to want to vote for Congress and president a green party person. That's why people who are more left wing don't like the current political system in America. They'd rather save trees then fight the Russians in the Ukraine
I would say it is conservative even in the USA. Both major parties here are for neoliberal/ capitalist economics. People just dont understand what the word means in the USA
I wouldn't call the democrats centre left but that's just me. Also, outside of North America liberals are called so entirely on economic grounds. Since they're favour free market economics. So economically right wing. They can be conservative socially or not. Doesn't really matter when the economic policy is the same.
That’s not just you, that’s literally anyone who understands politics. The democrats are a center-right party while the republicans are a far right party.
Nope you are wrong the dems are center left and nope the term liberal has always been left wing read a book you people are delusional literally nobody uses economics to judge there party’s
@@TokyoBalletReprisenope you people are delusional the dems are left wing by every metric the whole world uses the same political metric you people don’t know what you’re talking about read a book next time
One problem though. There are burakumin politicians. Look, just because you see a minority label doesn't equate it to a difficult life. In fact, it was a social caste system that was later abolished. Very very old people may care about it, but it is nearly non-existent among boomers, millennials, and zoomers.
The ironic thing is Japan is the closest thing to a functioning communist state the world has. Not praising or denouncing, just stating. Japan always seems on the edge of going full socialist so they accommodate by allowing policies that are more and more left. In the big cities it's a little more free/independent but elsewhere it's easy to see. The desire to be one at every level and the tendency to refer to higher authority to resolve differences basically guarantees the current situation and hence why you get basically a one party state.
11:30 very sorry to 'harass' you with the exact same comment but again I find stating that the LDP is supporting 'gay marriage' and 'women keeping maiden name once married' extremely misleading as the LDP is literally THE only party who's trying to stop this. All opposition parties are in favour and even the religious Komeito is open to talks and is pushing their LDP peers to be more open about it. I'm sure you are aware of this situation but still made the effort to comment again as the way you framed it just make it sound that they're all in for it. This aside, your videos are amazing! Thanks so much for your work and am looking forward to your next videos ☺
From what I've bean able to find out the LDP has many factions that adhere to the tenets (or at least pretend to) of Classical liberalism (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism) as opposed to Modern liberalism, given that many see it as a Classical liberal party.
US politics have become so skewed that I likely would be a swing vote in most international countries (leaning right), but supposedly way to the left in the US.
In 1990, Mario Vargas Llosa called the then 60 year old Mexican regime under the Institutional Revolutionary Party the perfect dictatorship. I think he's wrong. I think the perfect dictatorship is Japan under the LDP, where the same party manages to control near enough everything (to the point where any opposition party has an extremely tough time running anything if they even get to be in power), and yet they don't even have to censor newspapers or force people to vote a certain way to stay in power. Meanwhile, the systemic societal issues and the stagnating economy never gets resolved.
The Liberal Democratic Party has benefited from never splitting. Whereas it’s rival parties have split and changed multiple times over the decades. And it’s likely that Voters prefer a more stable party. These parties also aren’t nearly as polarized from each other the way the US or UK parties are.
Great video! Easy to understand the issues. In addition the Japanese hadnt vote in the past when organized votes by LDP and socialists promised stability. Now many non-partisans think therere no parties they can rely on, including many opponents, but most of them cannot pay running finance so give up even before vote
I appreciate the work to put a good spin on this, or to see the issue more broadly than just negative, but on it's face it doesn't look that good to be honest. I did read about the brief Socialist Party win and how much good was done under that admin that still lasts today.
I guess it depends where you centre is 😂 economically right and socially liberal vs right wing and insane can be center left vs centre right if that's what you've grown up in.
@The_king567 While the democratic party may be broadly socially left leaning, they are still a centre right party at best. They could have become more left leaning under Sanders, but the right leaning democratic establishment torpedoed that. So they remain a right wing party.
@ nah the Dems all support left wing policy’s especially on social issues no there is nothing right wing about them you clearly don’t know how the political Metric axis works or where it came from so go read a book next time
@@The_king567 While it may be to the left of most of the alternatives within US politics, relative to politics pretty much everywhere else they're firmly still on the right.
@ it’s left by every metric in the world nope the Dems are left by every way most right party’s do not support social issues or welfare the Dems do that proves you are wrong go read a book dude you lost this argument
Both parties will have to stay capitalist unless the Democratic party wants to listen to their left wing socialist base about nationalization of industries. You really want the government to take over 90% of banks, airports, energy sector, and health care? Nope
@@attiepollard7847 They won’t do that. They might say they’d do that, and they might really want to do that, but they won’t ever do that. The U.S parties are basically in a very careful balance; both will talk a big game, but most won’t actually make big changes because they don’t want to disrupt the status quo.
@@declanedmison5442 I believe the right would make the big change that matters. On the conservative right would would eliminate the 16th amendment to the constitution when it comes to income tax, we would end the capital gains tax and increase the retirement age. It all depends on who is pushing the message and unfortunately trump is not that face to push the message
@@attiepollard7847 I guess if the rich want a few more thousand, sure. But do the parties really want to? They might lose out on voters if they make any big decisions. And if it turns out bad, how are they gonna get re-elected? So, they keep going around in circles, promising, breaking those promises, blaming the other side for preventing them from fulfilling those promises, and then repeating into infinity.
UA-cam seems to have tweaked the algorithm to promote smaller channels, and videos like this makes me really appreciate the change. Promising channel, keep up the good work!
Working on the next video right now! it should be out this week. I'm thankful for the algorithm and that so many kind people have been so encouraging in the comments
In the vast majority of cases they will recommend you a small channel because you watched something from some small channel a while ago
I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten smaller channels in my recommendations
Big plus!
it might just be you. You probably avoid big channels and like indie stuff
this is very well researched video.
many, if not most, videos and documentaries about japanese politics utter nonsense, sometime straight racist.
Japanese here. I just wanted to thank you, because despite I've been watching almost exclusively English essay/short-documentary style contents on UA-cam for about 4 years at this point, this was somehow the first time I've found anyone who could even scratch the surface of the nature of LDP. And not only that, I actually learned new things from your video.
If I could add some comments to this, I would say that this way of having a big tent for everyone, and putting emphasis on inner coordination of interests rather than confrontation and/or competition, is something that fit very well to traditional Japanese culture. When someone says Japanese people value "harmony" and hate open confrontation, this, this system of LDP, is I think one of the biggest examples of that.
Thanks so much for the kind words! A good English language channel on Japanese politics you might enjoy is Langley Esquire. They haven't posted as much recently but have some really good videos discussing the LDP as well as the Komeito and Japanese Communist parties
せやねん。
You always oppose someone in politics. Even if you vote LDP, you would oppose certain LDP factions and all the opposition parties. If you don't vote you oppose the entire democratic system of your nation and indirectly oppose smaller parties and smaller LDP factions as well.
There will always be atleast one politician, who doesn't like your existence and what it represents. In politics there can never be harmony.
@@vodlistener You're very right. My comment was more about how people perceive and act (that's what "culture" means), rather than about the reality of the system. Also you can argue that with different cultures comes different definitions of "politics".
I'm neither defending nor praising the LDP system. It's just that it has its reasons to exist, which of course include cultural ones.
Funnily enough, this is the reason the Chinese give for their support of the Communist Party of China, that the CCP is a big tent, and many people are in it with various interests and wrestling for power at the top. However, Japan in my view is significantly culturally more collectivist than China is.
That being said, this is similar to the even more authoritarian People's Action Party in Singapore. Founded in 1954 as center-left, PAP became increasingly more right after Lee Kuan Yew expelled the leftist faction in 1961 the year before Singapore merged with Malaysia. After Singapore was kicked out in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew won the 1968 general election unopposed, and his party won all 58 seats. He and his administration wielded absolute power over Singapore's political scene until 1990, and the party has remained the dominant party in Singaporean politics today. He managed to transform Singapore from an impoverished society to a center of aviation, tourism, banking, and shipping. But hidden behind all this, he curtailed press freedom, imposed restrictions on protesting, restricted labor movements from industrial action or strike action, suppressed wage growth of skilled workers (in order to be competitive with developing countries) amid widening and high levels of income inequality along with wealth inequality (relative to other developed countries), and attempted to dismantle any political opposition by engaging in defamation lawsuits.
Lee Kuan Yew was also quite the eugenicist. And this isn't even mentioning money laundering schemes, rental discrimination towards Indian Singaporeans, people in academia in positions of power abusing people underneath them and getting away with it, or the poor migrant labor that has been encouraged, like through the country's maid or helper culture. For a while, Singapore has had a fairly high Gini coefficient, a measurement of inequality where the higher you are, the more unequal your country is. The reality of migrant domestic work in Singapore is often characterized by a power imbalance, potential for exploitation, social isolation, and limited legal protections, with many migrant domestic workers (or MDWs) facing long working hours, restricted personal freedoms, and vulnerability to abuse from employers, despite legal regulations aimed at safeguarding their rights. Migrant workers often must take on serious debt, and their health and safety are in the hand of their employers. Between 2014 and 2021, an average of 12,770 workers (including Singaporeans) were injured every year. So despite being an integral group of workers in Singapore, propelling its economic and social growth, many MDWs are treated as outsiders, and the legal system doesn't typically work in their favor, so they're forced to repatriate with a ton of debt.
Although Singapore has increased representation by the opposition now and created a Leader of the Opposition position in 2020 (the opposition is led by the socdem Workers' Party; there's also the progressive Progress Singapore), it continues to be criticized for not doing enough because of free speech restrictions and labor rights abuses. Oh yeah, and because of Singapore-Israel relations, Singapore has stamped out public protests in support of the Palestinian people, they've been harassing and intimidating students for expressing their solidarity with the Palestinians. Pro-Palestinian students in Singapore have been subjected to police surveillance and intimidation. In Singapore, NUS and NTU have partnerships with Thales, one of Israel's largest arms suppliers, and the Israeli Aerospace Industries, whose weapons have been used in Gaza. In 2024, Israeli arms manufacturers took part in the Singapore Airshow, displaying weapons that are currently being used against Palestinians.
Man this feels more of a company than a party to be honest.
Well, conservatives don't care about human beings so it makes sense.
No different than the two parties in the US
The LDP reminds me of the state American parties were in during the 1950s and 1960s. Where you can have extremely right winger politicians like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond on the same party platform as liberals like John F Kennedy.
(For a Republican example, like having Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater running with Thomas Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller)
Ironically, Nixon himself will lead China into a vehemently anti USSR stance that span to many decades until the USSRs collapse
Yes absolutely, big-tent parties. Unfortunately for Japan they have only one of them, so it dominates.
Even today, the Democrats & Republicans are still somewhat big tent. You have Senators like Rand Paul (liberal) and Susan Collins (centrist, statist) under the same party. Likewise, even though the Democratic Party has grown more extreme in the past decade, they have some broad ideological representation, through politicians such as Senator Joe Manchin (centrist) and Representative AOC (socialist).
Also, Richard Nixon was likely closer to Dewey than Goldwater. Dewey & Nixon supported many of the Progressive Era bills, while Goldwater opposed them. Barry Goldwater's ideology helped mould America's modern Libertarian party. He often disagreed with Nixon's policies, and told Nixon he and other Republican Senators would vote yes in Nixon's impeachment trial.
@@johkupohkuxd1697 My concern is if a political party has both right and left elements then what are the voters getting? I guess just the vote on the party itself and not a specific direction. I think that would make it hard for the party to make decisions and govern if a vote for them is not the public vote of confidence on any particular political direction, just like giving a blank check, the voters are just telling the party, here you figure it out.... I guess I can see it as a cultural thing but from a western country perspective It just seems so unusual.
It hasnt changed a bit.
The fact we have Trump and George Bush on the same political party, is basically the same thing.
Trump has the foreign policy of Bernie Sanders combined with the economics of George Bush.
Hes not some diehard rightwinger, but basically a neo-liberal on steroids.
Modern day republicans arent conservative in the slightest. Their just neo-liberals. The Democrat party seems to have much more conservatives (in the economic/foreign policy front) nowadays if Il be real with you.
Good. Haven't seen anyone talk about the 1955 system for a while. A few things to add here though, the Liberal party that was led by Yoshida Shigeru was not a "liberal" party in the American sense. It was "liberal" (classical liberalism) in the European sense, so, it was on the right. It promoted free-market capitalism, free trade, conservatism, and a pro-American foreign policy, which gave rise to the so-called "Yoshida doctrine" that dominated the first half of the post-war years. On the other hand, the Democratic party was more like a traditional conservative party that supported Japan's sovereignty, anti-US interferences, and rearmament. It was led by Hatoyama Ichiro, who during the pre-war period attempted to negotiate with the West while at the same time attempting to save Japan's sovereignty. The Democrats were far to the right than the Liberals on social matters. After the 1955 merger, the LDP was essentially fragmented with factions within the party originating from the fact that two kinds of conservative groups joined together to prevent the Socialist Party from gaining a foothold in the government (The Socialists were themselves split into the Leftist [Marxist] wing and Rightist [social democracy] wing. The merger to form the LDP was a reaction by two different conservatives when the Socialists united).
Why don't you do the next video on "The 6th Party Congress of the Japanese Communist Party" or something like "The Continual Decline of the Left-Wing Parties [JCP and JSP] in Japan". These might explain why leftism failed in Japan and why a practical and "realpolitik" conservative party like the LDP has been ruling since 1955 (except for 1994 and 2009-2012).
Should note that the American use of the word "Liberal" is much a misappropriation of the term. In America, Progressives started misusing the word "Liberal" in the early 20th-century to avoid using the term "Socialism." America has largely kept that nomenclature.
@@Pan_Z American progressives like FDR or LBJ aren't socialists as much as they are big government welfarist social liberals in the vein of Woodrow Wilson and Ted Roosevelt. (Maybe not the social liberal part) Economically they're closer to the various right wing parties in post-Soviet Europe like the PiS in Poland or the Islamic Brotherhood than the Labour/Eurocommunists
@@Pan_Z Yes, starting in the 1930s, New Dealers began to represent themselves as "[modern/social] liberal" as opposed to "[classical] liberal" of the Old Right. This shift was because New Dealers claimed that social democratic, progressive, and leftist policies were needed to maintain social justice. They presented "liberalism" in a utilitarian sense, i.e., in line with Jeremy Bentham's and John Stuart Mill's "social liberalism". John Rawls went on to make it more compatible with the American classical liberal society during the post-war years.
Some liberal parties can also be considered centrist in Europe, like the FDP in Germany, which variously enters coalitions with the CDU/CSU and SPD/Gruenen. Euro liberalism isn't necessarily conservative on social values; Euro liberal parties often have a strong social liberal faction.
Canadian liberalism aligns with Americans as left wing. UK liberalism is centrist like the Euro version (LDP) and social liberal. In Australia and NZ, liberalism is considered right wing; the main conservative party in Australia is actually called the Liberal Party.
@@overworlder You're touching upon how the left-right political spectrum is (literally) one-dimensional, and often limiting. Liberal parties can be socially progressive or conservative depending upon the country. Their commonality is usually in regards to economics, where they advocate for less taxes, less state involvement in the economy, ect... The "Liberals" in America & Canada are known as Social Liberals, Progressive Liberals, Progressives, and Social Democrats in other countries. The important thing to note about Liberalism is it's never characterised as Left-wing in the economic sense due to its opposition to state control of the economy.
ive been looking for videos on japanese politics for awhile, so im super glad i finally found a channel that wants to cover them! instantly subbed, nice video!
Glad you enjoyed the video! I felt the same way! that's why I wanted to make this video because I felt Japanese politics was really really interesting but I couldn't find enough content on it on UA-cam that presented it in a fun way.
I guess the best description of Japan would be a "One Party Plus" system, where only one party is going to hold power and win elections, but other parties exist and win some seats, similar to Commonwealth Countries like UK/Canada/Australia/NZ being "Two Party Plus" systems.
@@navymustang0617 same with india multi parties system
Australia might be on course to change as independents got pretty decent results in the last election thanks to a voting system where you can vote for who you want rather than against someone without fear of "wasting" your vote.
There’s a name for it: dominant party system.
theres name for it: fake democracy system.
It’s dominant party, not one-party system. So it still a democracy imo
This was a really well put together video, I really do hope you continue making videos!
Working on the next video as we speak! it had more research than I expected so it sadly got pushed back a bit
@@Lawarch Don’t worry about it! Take your time with making better content!
"Liberal" outside of the US means to support free markets and private property. It's seen as a centre-right ideology in other countries. By that definition the LDP's name makes sense
There is no standardized definition for what "liberal" means globally.
@@amazingalliteration neo liberalism, right, social liberalism left
@@INTJ791
Nope. Only works "generally" in Europe.
It means the same thing in America. The Democratic party is a liberal, pro business, pro wallstreet party
@@amazingalliteration also works like that in Asia, latinoamerica and Africa.
I guess it's just yall that do the weird liberal = left thing.
So the anti-NHK one has actually changed their name multiple times like "NHK License Fee Nonpayment Party", "The Party to Protect the People from NHK", "The Party to Protect People from Old Political Parties", "The Party That Teaches How to Not Pay the NHK License Fee" (I kid you not with these names), and on March 8, 2023 to the Seijika Joshi 48 Party or "Political Women's 48". While the main topic of the party is to, as they say it best, "Destroy NHK", they've now expanded to different issues including lowering taxes, increasing military defense, and reaching energy independence through nuclear energy. People like to think there's only one party in the DPRK, but there's more than one! Within the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly, there are three other parties. The KSDP or Korean Social Democratic Party with 50 seats (since 2014), the Chondoist Chongu Party (a Korean pantheistic religion) with 22 seats (since 2014), and the Chongryon (to represent Zainichi Koreans in Japan who affiliate with the DPRK) with 6 seats. There are also two Independents.
In China's National People's Congress, they have eight minor parties. The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (founded by members of the left-wing faction of the Kuomintang, they now follow a "New Three Principles of the People"), China Democratic League (mostly consists of mid and senior-level intellectuals in the fields of culture, education, natural and social sciences, and technology; had 356,900 members by December 2023), China National Democratic Construction Association (mainly entrepreneurs and others in the fields of economics), China Association for Promoting Democracy (mainly represents high-level intellectuals engaged in education and cultural publishing media), Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party (also founded by left-wing members of the Kuomintang, mainly made up of members who mostly work in the fields of public health, medicine, and associated fields in science and technology), China Zhi Gong Party (mainly returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, as well as people with overseas connections), Jiusan Society (currently consists of high- and medium-level intellectuals in the fields of science, technology, and education), and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (mostly composed of prominent people from Taiwan or people of Taiwanese heritage who now reside on the mainland).
Seeing the start of a solid channel here
Thanks so much for the kind words!
True
this is incredibly well done!! I read a few introductions into Japanese Politics for Uni and this video hits so many important points.
Please, I know you're new, but this is a channel I can really get behind. I'd love more videos like these on nations that rarely get covered. As an American watcher, it's so rare to see videos like these being made for us.
The socialdemocrats of Sweden has ruled Sweden for the last 89 out of 100 years. Try that for one party state…
Amazing video. I don’t know how this has not reached 1M view.
Your editing is so high quality! I love the graphics you use too! You’ve just earned a subscriber
256 Subscriber with only one Video? You're off to a great start, please continue to make videos.
Damn, what a well edited and easily digestible 101 to Japanese politics. Can't wait to finish the rest of your videos.
Looks like somebody went to the J.J. McCullough school of video editing. It's a solid style. Appreciate the information
"The liberals and the democrats joined forces to form a strong conservative opposition to the Japanese left"
Somethings not adding up here in my American brain lol
It’s hard to grasp because the US doesn’t have to truly leftist party (a la socialist or communist party). Our political spectrum is VERY limited compared to others.
@traceghg7832 Communists and Socialists? What? The Dems have no such people. AOC and Bernie Sanders are run of the mill Social Democrats.
@traceghg7832in some countries the democrat party would not even be considered left.
Well, you have to understand that in many parts of the world "liberalism" mostly just means economic liberalism (as in right wing fiscal conservatism) and that liberal parties are usually characterized as centrist or even centre-right parties on the basis of being economically right wing with some support to cultural liberalism. Left wing parties are usually social democratic (basically what the most "left-wing" and "progressive" politicians in america believe in, like Bernie Sanders) in the centre-left and the moderate left wing, and full on socialist or communist parties that oppose capitalism to the left of them.
In Japan the liberal party was a full on conservative party that just supported a more "free-market" approach than the super conservative democratic party, and both parties united due to their joint conservative nature.
Also, if you think that's confusing, try Portugese politics, with a centre-right party called "the social democratic party" that isn't at all social democratic and a "socialist party" that is social democratic.
P.S- I hope you understood my explanation and I would happily answer any questions about politics outside the US of A.
@traceGhg7 8 Bernie Sanders is like the most left-leaning candidate Dems can get and even so he's a socdem at best.
very american to call the two USA Parties as "Center Left and Center Right" xD
Fr doe
Because they are read a book
This video was fantastic, great job!
I am a member of the LDP party.
The LDP is often described abroad as a right-wing party, but I felt that was a very superficial commentary.
In reality, as expressed in this video, it is supported by a diverse group of people. The current president, Fumio Kishida, is considered a leftist figure within the LDP, but his foreign and defense policies are relatively satisfactory to the right.
They have no qualms about adopting the best aspects of policy from the outside world, and are often referred to as the department store of policy.
The LDP's long-term hold on power in Japan can be attributed not only to its industrial ties and broad base of supporters, but also to its "enemy lost".
In the past, when the DPJ came to power, they failed to deliver on many of their key promises. Now they are in the center of the opposition, but they have not fully regained the trust of the Japanese people.
love the idea of implementing retro gaming graphics into your video. Nice touch.
I love this video, both its content and its style. Great video!
Great video, I’ve not seen any other similar videos about the LDP, so this was really interesting. I hope you make more videos soon!
This might be my new favorite channel! Awesome video!
Wow I had no idea about this. Great video!
Well done! Ever since I've heard that Japan has one rulining party Ive been curious as to why, and this video provided the best explanation Ive seen so far.
Finally, a video talking about Japan being a de facto one-party state. My personal guesses/observations were proven correct, because I've really been wondering on why the LDP has been dominating in ruling Japan since 1955. Guess it really is true that it is a de facto one-party state.
Also a bit related but Britain also kind of has a similar situation with Japan, in the sense that the Conservative Party over there has been ruling the country for the past 13 years since Cameron came in and Labour really hasn't had another prime minister after Blair (as of writing this that is, hope it ages well for Labour to win the next general elections).
Thank you for existing and making this because this is very educational and Japanese politics are generally underrated in most of the world. And with like everyone else in this comment section, I hope that you go places/eventually become popular with being lucky in the UA-cam algorithm.
The last Labour prime minister wasn't Blair, it was Gordon Brown
@@ProsecutorZekrom Oh wait, my bad, I didn't knew. Anyways, you get the point of my comment then.
@@kapatidtomas No worries. He’s nowhere near as well known as Blair, but was quite powerful in Blair’s government (made a deal to stand down in the leadership election in exchange for more freedom in his role as chancellor of the exchequer), basically lost in 2010 because of the global financial crisis he didn’t really have control over, and since then has continually advocated for causes like ending poverty, championing the 500,000 children lifted out of poverty during the New Labour years and decrying the massive increase under the tories (1/3 of all children in my city are in poverty).
@@ProsecutorZekrom Damn bro, I'm from the Philippines, but as I've heard, the economic situation in Britain is getting bad.
Hope all the best for the working classes of the world.
I’m not surprised the CIA was behind encouraging Japanese political system to be this way.
It was either that or have the KGB takeover in Japan
@@attiepollard7847 Got any evidence the KGB was behind the left parties in Japan? Also the US occupied Japan for ten years prior so how would the KGB been able to get a foothold in Japan sounds like the Japanese people by their own volition wanted more left parties but the CIA stopped that and let a bunch of class A war criminals band together to put Japan under a 1 party state.
@@attiepollard7847
That would be awesome
@@somebodyontheinternet7743 only for those who don't like freedom
@@attiepollard7847
If you are talking about the freedom to work yourself to death in a capitalist hell hole then yeah.
This might be the greatest firt video any channel has ever done
0:25 As somebody who has lived in many countries, the American two-party system is no longer between a centre-left and centre-right party but a centre-right and far-right party.
This is true. Both are neoliberal and the more left party (the democrats) definitely are further right than many center parties elsewhere. They like to pretend they are left leaning when they don't have power though
I wish that was true
@@potatomahonman5008 Well, it is.
I think you’re an amateur about American politics and shouldn’t comment on it.
@kordellswoffer1520 Mate, I have relatives who live in the US, I had to do my A-level in US politics, currently study politics at Uni and I follow it more than most Americans do, I have pretty good knowledge about it.
If you look at any other country and their two party system whether it's the Labour and the Conservative Parties in the UK, CDU and SPD in Germany, Conservatives and Liberals in Canada, Liberal and Labor parties in Australia or ANC and DA in South Africa, the US Democratic party more closely align with the right-leaning party and the Republicans' ideology is only seen in fringe Far-right parties.
Most Dems don't support universal healthcare or higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses and actually take quite a hard line on immigration.
Many Republicans still oppose abortion and same-sex marriage even though most Conservative parties in the rest of the world acknowledge these as fundamental rights.
In most of the world "liberal" means centrist or centre-right, not "Left-wing" like it does in the States.
Your country's politics is probably most comparable to modern France as the two largest parties are a Liberal/centre-right and a far-right party, although a more left-wing alliance is likely to overtake the centrists the next election.
I think it was really important that you clarified why Japan's apparent "one party state" status is different from other countries like China or North Korea, or even the early 20th century southern US. Unlike in those countires, the LDP still can lose elections, but it's willing to compromise with the other parties and make changes to appease the populous to keep itself in power. It also has a lot of built-in advantages with the system, yes, but those advantages are not so great that it makes them completely invincible.
My brother in Christ that’s still a one party rule, just because it has a few concessions it doesn’t make it okey wtf?
@@ericktellez7632 its a coalition my
brother in zues
@@lesterdsouza205 it is still a one party state where corruption is institutionalized... Eventually they will take back all those concessions when it's too inconvenient. It's why the people now are working longer and harder than ever before and suicide rates are through the roof and death by work exhaustion is common place...
@@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74 It was still not a one-party state but rather a dominant party democracy. Unlike in North Korea or China, the LDP can actually lose the election whereas in China other parties just getting a ministerial position is considered a great achievement (yes, the PRC has 8 minor parties outside the Chinese Communist Party)
'Dominant party system' is a better term because they could be voted out unlike a one party state where only pro government parties are legal.
Just one small correction: regarding the two major US political parties, the Democratic Party is center-right and the Republican Party is far-right.
Or you're just far left and they're normal parties 😂
@@catmonarchist8920 Bitch please, normal parties support universal healthcare. Even monarchist ones.
@@catmonarchist8920 Compared to other Democracys like Western or Northern Europe yes they are Far Right and Center Right.
I mean the Democrats would call our Center left Party (SPD) Communists and the Republicans would probably call them Satanic.
Your Partys are mutch but not normal
Basically, the USA has one(left-wing) party in power and the other (centrist/ moderate) party is the controlled opposition.
Commie alert
The LDP is a liberal party. Their ideology is based on classical liberalism, it’s just that the US twisted the world “liberal” to mean socially left wing.
It’s disingenuous and simplistic to just paint the LDP as some Conservative Party. Some factions within it are, but certain of their policies would also be seen as very left wing in other countries.
Liberalism has always been left wing
This is awesome. I hope you cover more topics related to East Asian and SEA
Great video! Very informative
Good content, but please boost your voice levels and turn down the volume on the sound effects.
I'm honored to be here before you hit 1k subs
Thanks so much! Also I really enjoy watching you Elder Scrolls videos as they came out over the years
Japan is a democracy but it isn't culturally democratic. Japanese tend to defer to authority, hierarchy, and seniority. A hypothetical: if Flight 93 had been filled with Japanese passengers, they would not have voted to take back the plane; they would have deferred to the most senior authority figure to give the green light. Same result-- different thought process.
Really get work! I hope to see your channel grow!
Love how your little characters look just as you'd find them on a Japanese advert!
May the algorithm gods bless you
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@Lawarch This vid was not only really informative but also super well produced for a first video. Im definitely subbing and turning on notifs!
Nobody:
Lawarch: Nobosuke Quiche🧇
My meager understanding is that "Liberal" does not mean the same thing in the U.S. that it does in rest of the world. In the U.S., it means "populist social democratic left", whereas elsewhere in the world, it means something closer to "libertarian". This meaning remains in U.S. English in words like "economic liberalization", "liberalized economy", etc.
Anyway, so it's no surprise (to me, at least) that the party opposed to socialism would call themselves the "liberal" party in Japan.
Yes, the LDP fit the definition of classical liberals, in that they espouse economic autonomy and deregulation. They are most definitely liberals, only someone with a US specific understanding of the world “liberal” would disagree.
I guess people just look at different sides of liberalism. Economic liberalism and social liberalism
Liberal is in reference to neoliberal economics
No you are wrong the whole world uses the same political metric what is liberal in the USA is liberal everywhere else read a book next time literally no country uses economics to judge there party’s you people don’t know what you are talking about
@@FunctionallyLiteratePersonno it’s not you don’t know what you’re talking about
Let's not forget Prime Minister Ichirō Hatoyama, who was a Baptist and Freemason, was the one who oversaw the merger of Democrat and Liberal parties.
Great video!
This looks like a very interesting upcoming channel. Are the videos going to be about politics? Or stuff in general?
Snap shots at interesting moments in history not just Japanese politics, but politics will always be there
This video covers how the LDP has a robust system of keeping its voters & funders content, but skims over just how biased Japan's electoral process is in favour of the ruling party.
1) As mentioned in the video, Japan uses a mixed system for elections. However, the numbers reveal the bias. Of the 465 seats in Shuugiin (The Lower House), 289 are single seat constituencies assigned via First-Past-The-Post. 176 are determined by Proportional Representation using the Jefferson/D'Hondt Method. The LDP, being the largest Japanese party, usually receive only about 1/3rd of the nation's votes. Plurality voting, however, *heavily* favours the largest parties, and this is reflected in results. The LDP receives about 1/3rd of the seats from Proportional Representation, but about half the single-seat constituencies. With most seats being determined by First-Past-The-Post, FPTP favouring the largest party, and the government (which is almost always controlled by the LDP) gerrymandering these districts, the electoral process is weighted toward the LDP.
2) Japan allocates public funding of parties through the amount of seats obtained in the National Diet, not percent of the vote received each election. Favours the largest parties.
3) Flat out spying on the opposition. The Japanese Communist Party, while only 10 seats in Shuugiin, is under surveillance by police for being an "anti-social group." This disincentives people from joining the party, lest they be subject to police monitoring.
4) The Prime Minister (almost always of the LDP) can decide to hold a snap election at his agency. This allows elections to be held while the ruling parties popularity is high.
As a European, hearing the democrats and republicans described as centre left and centre right is so funny to me, as over here they seem closer to our centre right and far right respectively
Exactly who was calling for semi nationalization on the Democrats side? No one so that's why they stay in the center
I'm an American but I completely agree
Well they are you clearly don’t know how the political metric system works do you crazy how you euros don’t know anything about history do you
@@FunctionallyLiteratePersondon’t because they are wrong read a book next time
great content, I love the audio effects
Nice video, you should invest in a better mic. It's a bit hard to understand u sometimes
Yeah going to try and upgrade my mic soon. Do you have a recommendation for what might be good?
Given a sub, hope this channel goes well! This video was very in-depth and interesting!
Dope video I love the style but the sound effects were just slightly too loud. I loved the effect they had on the video tho just may wanna make them more quiet in future videos.
Great channel
Hondt is not convoluted. It's actually pretty easy to learn and it's almost perfect for election for colegial organs.
It is for to someone who's used to first past the post elections
Trying to explain Hondt in a comment: You divide each candidate list number of votes by 2, 3, 4, 5, etc, thus forming a table. You start selecting the seats won by the largest number, first, and going down until you finish all the seats to be filled. In case of a draw, at any point, you select the candidate with less overall votes. There you go, I think I did it!
@@jorge6207 still a lot more complicated than "the candidate with the most votes wins".
@@catmonarchist8920 The Hondt method doesn''t concern itself with winners or losers, it just wants to fill a house.
@@jorge6207 it favours larger parties so it kind of does. Poland and Portugal have one party governments on much less than half the vote that they probably wouldn't have under one of the other systems like Sainte-Laguë.
0:25 Democrats aren't center-left. They're very centrist. Like in Europe they'd be more similar to parties like the CDU than the SPD. They have a couple center-left politicians like AOC and Bernie but that's the exception.
Nope the Dems are center left by every metic the world uses the same political metic system read a book next time you don’t know history do you lmao euros never learn lmao 🤣
Brilliant analysis! We will watch your career with great interest
Suggestion for next video: People's Action Party of Singapore
Great video! Something I had no idea about.
Maybe tone down the sound effects tho, they are a little too loud and a little to often.
Just goes to show how universally powerful inertia is. Until shit hits the fan I doubt much will change.
When shit did hit the fan… well the LDP was out of power (ie DPJ was in power when Fukushima nuclear incident )
Considering how flexible LDP is shit probably will not hit fan
@@iamthinking2252_ I do wonder how things would have been had 3/11 not happened, the chaos and uncertainty of the aftermath is one of the reasons why voters flock back to voting for the LDP.
The LDP of Japan reminds me of the Coalition or Liberal Party in Australia
Well, isn't it the same in the US? One party has dominated the country for years. It is just that they have two wings of it. The Corporate Party.
No one is going to want to vote for Congress and president a green party person. That's why people who are more left wing don't like the current political system in America. They'd rather save trees then fight the Russians in the Ukraine
Yup. Gotta love the ratchet effect! /s
素晴らしい解説でした。あなたの次の動画を楽しみにしています。
"Liberal" outside of America CAN be a conservative ideology
Yes, they might not necessarily be socially liberal. But they are in many cases economically liberal.
I would say it is conservative even in the USA. Both major parties here are for neoliberal/ capitalist economics. People just dont understand what the word means in the USA
I wouldn't call the democrats centre left but that's just me. Also, outside of North America liberals are called so entirely on economic grounds. Since they're favour free market economics. So economically right wing. They can be conservative socially or not. Doesn't really matter when the economic policy is the same.
That’s not just you, that’s literally anyone who understands politics. The democrats are a center-right party while the republicans are a far right party.
@@TokyoBalletReprise no wrong anyone further left than hitler is a communist right? - Average american
Nope you are wrong the dems are center left and nope the term liberal has always been left wing read a book you people are delusional literally nobody uses economics to judge there party’s
@@TokyoBalletReprisenope you people are delusional the dems are left wing by every metric the whole world uses the same political metric you people don’t know what you’re talking about read a book next time
One problem though. There are burakumin politicians. Look, just because you see a minority label doesn't equate it to a difficult life. In fact, it was a social caste system that was later abolished. Very very old people may care about it, but it is nearly non-existent among boomers, millennials, and zoomers.
I found this very interesting and I liked the way you put it together
Thanks so much! I spend as much time editing and making graphics as research so I'm happy to see people are enjoy the results!
That was a very interesting video! Hopefully you'll channel will continue to grow, good luck.
Thanks so much for the kind words!
The ironic thing is Japan is the closest thing to a functioning communist state the world has. Not praising or denouncing, just stating. Japan always seems on the edge of going full socialist so they accommodate by allowing policies that are more and more left.
In the big cities it's a little more free/independent but elsewhere it's easy to see. The desire to be one at every level and the tendency to refer to higher authority to resolve differences basically guarantees the current situation and hence why you get basically a one party state.
Where did you get the sound effects? I was playing Caves of Qud while watching and got kinda confused a few times lol
11:30 very sorry to 'harass' you with the exact same comment but again I find stating that the LDP is supporting 'gay marriage' and 'women keeping maiden name once married' extremely misleading as the LDP is literally THE only party who's trying to stop this. All opposition parties are in favour and even the religious Komeito is open to talks and is pushing their LDP peers to be more open about it. I'm sure you are aware of this situation but still made the effort to comment again as the way you framed it just make it sound that they're all in for it.
This aside, your videos are amazing! Thanks so much for your work and am looking forward to your next videos ☺
Some party members are split on it. This is why he said that it is a coalition of moderate liberals to far right politicians.
From what I've bean able to find out the LDP has many factions that adhere to the tenets (or at least pretend to) of Classical liberalism (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism) as opposed to Modern liberalism, given that many see it as a Classical liberal party.
Most of this video is great, but as a European I really can’t agree with saying Democrats are center left and the Republicans center right lol
Both parties are in the center. Exactly who in the Democrat party is calling for a semi nationalize industry?
I guess the standards of left-wing and right-wing are different in other parts of the world.
US politics have become so skewed that I likely would be a swing vote in most international countries (leaning right), but supposedly way to the left in the US.
How so
In 1990, Mario Vargas Llosa called the then 60 year old Mexican regime under the Institutional Revolutionary Party the perfect dictatorship. I think he's wrong. I think the perfect dictatorship is Japan under the LDP, where the same party manages to control near enough everything (to the point where any opposition party has an extremely tough time running anything if they even get to be in power), and yet they don't even have to censor newspapers or force people to vote a certain way to stay in power. Meanwhile, the systemic societal issues and the stagnating economy never gets resolved.
Dropped a like and sub. Loved your vid!
One video and 110000 subs already congrats good job
u gotta work on making the audio quality better for ur next video man
Wow only 52 subscribers? This is a very well made video and I hope you continue to make these.
Thanks so much! new video should be out this week
@@Lawarch Can't wait to see the next one!
Very informative thank you
The Liberal Democratic Party has benefited from never splitting. Whereas it’s rival parties have split and changed multiple times over the decades. And it’s likely that Voters prefer a more stable party. These parties also aren’t nearly as polarized from each other the way the US or UK parties are.
This is very nicely put together!
Great video! Easy to understand the issues.
In addition the Japanese hadnt vote in the past when organized votes by LDP and socialists promised stability. Now many non-partisans think therere no parties they can rely on, including many opponents, but most of them cannot pay running finance so give up even before vote
I appreciate the work to put a good spin on this, or to see the issue more broadly than just negative, but on it's face it doesn't look that good to be honest. I did read about the brief Socialist Party win and how much good was done under that admin that still lasts today.
Can’t believe he called the democrats center-left and the republicans center-right 😂
I guess it depends where you centre is 😂 economically right and socially liberal vs right wing and insane can be center left vs centre right if that's what you've grown up in.
😂
@@arditienthusiast8384 Basically, the Democratic Party is the party of globalism. Whereas the Republican Party is the party of soft-globalism.
Really great video! I hope you make more videos like this!
Thank you! let me know if there are any topics you would be interested in seeing
dude this such a well made video subbing rn
Thank you!
This is a very well made video. Seeing as youtube reccomended this video to me on the front page, I bet you might start taking off soon.
"Liberal" generally has conservaive connotations to anywhere outside of US
This video is great, but the sound effects are a bit too loud
Japanese here. the position of prime minister is like getting to colleges in japan. legacy kids are always gonna get in.
That aged well 😅
The US has more of a centre right party, and an extreme right party dominating their politics.
No they do not read a book next time
@The_king567 While the democratic party may be broadly socially left leaning, they are still a centre right party at best. They could have become more left leaning under Sanders, but the right leaning democratic establishment torpedoed that. So they remain a right wing party.
@ nah the Dems all support left wing policy’s especially on social issues no there is nothing right wing about them you clearly don’t know how the political Metric axis works or where it came from so go read a book next time
@@The_king567 While it may be to the left of most of the alternatives within US politics, relative to politics pretty much everywhere else they're firmly still on the right.
@ it’s left by every metric in the world nope the Dems are left by every way most right party’s do not support social issues or welfare the Dems do that proves you are wrong go read a book dude you lost this argument
It's not too unusual when you realize that the U.S has two parties both being capitalist.
Both parties will have to stay capitalist unless the Democratic party wants to listen to their left wing socialist base about nationalization of industries. You really want the government to take over 90% of banks, airports, energy sector, and health care? Nope
@@attiepollard7847 They won’t do that. They might say they’d do that, and they might really want to do that, but they won’t ever do that. The U.S parties are basically in a very careful balance; both will talk a big game, but most won’t actually make big changes because they don’t want to disrupt the status quo.
@@declanedmison5442 I believe the right would make the big change that matters. On the conservative right would would eliminate the 16th amendment to the constitution when it comes to income tax, we would end the capital gains tax and increase the retirement age. It all depends on who is pushing the message and unfortunately trump is not that face to push the message
@@attiepollard7847 I guess if the rich want a few more thousand, sure. But do the parties really want to? They might lose out on voters if they make any big decisions. And if it turns out bad, how are they gonna get re-elected? So, they keep going around in circles, promising, breaking those promises, blaming the other side for preventing them from fulfilling those promises, and then repeating into infinity.
What a great video!
The style and the info are amazing.
I'm hoping your channel grows!
Cheers from Brazil
Thank you for making a video about japanese politics! Was really a hole in youtube waiting to be filled
Great vid