TAKAYAMA: What made you go after Prime Minister Mori? KATO: His cabinet is not supported by the people. About 80 percent of them say they don’t like [his government]. Past governments, even those that have accomplished something, have had to go due to their declining support rates. Mori’s [poll numbers] are going way down. To make matters worse, he has hardly accomplished anything. The real problem isn’t Mori, but the state of the Liberal Democratic Party. Most people within the party, including those who supported the Mori cabinet, know very well it has to change. But no one has stood up. We are in a crisis that threatens the very survival of the party. The opposition seemingly [can’t] change Japanese politics on its own. At this moment, I regard myself as a man who holds the most important position in Japanese politics. I have a responsibility to make changes.
How long have you felt this need for change? A couple of months. Local leaders and people I meet during my speaking tours don’t mince words. These are people who have been supporting Japan’s conservative politics without raising their voices. Now they are desperate. They tell me: “If things don’t change in politics, this country will disintegrate.” People feel there is a stone wall between Nagata-cho [site of the LDP’s headquarters in Tokyo] and themselves. The party knows this but does nothing about it. The LDP may think that even though the people feel alienated, it can go on managing politics as in the past. What we must realize is that the LDP no longer enjoys the biggest support rate [among political parties]. In fact, polls show it to be the No. 1 party people want to vote against. This is unprecedented.
Might you leave the LDP? I don’t intend to leave the party unless I have to.
Do you want to be prime minister? I will try to be, because I want to change this country. Japan has great potential and is not a country in twilight. We can change. We can still have dreams. I will show strong political leadership. A prime minister who accomplishes nothing becomes a stain in history. I want to have dialogues with people about issues like our national pension plan and our Asia policy. Prime Minister Mori has no such sense of mission.
You’ve said that Japan’s position in the world has declined. Yes, I feel that deeply. I have American friends who are journalists and scholars, and Japanese friends who are bureaucrats and businessmen and deal with their foreign counterparts. They tell me that Japan’s position in international society has deteriorated considerably. I have an impression that leaders of other nations have not been taking Japan seriously.
You talk a lot about science and technology. Why? During the cold war the main global issue was defense and nuclear deterrence. At present it is finance, money and direct investment. A decade from now, it will be science and technology. I am pushing the advancement of science and technology, and I myself am studying it. If you look at international finance, biotech, digital technology and the IT revolution, Japan is lagging behind. If Japan cannot keep pace we will lose our competitive edge.
What’s Japan’s greatest economic challenge? I think it’s the fact that consumer spending is not growing. Our people don’t have a bright outlook. They are worried about their old age, so to be prudent, they don’t spend money. Fundamentally, they are afraid that politicians will spend their pension money to pay off the government’s huge debts. Therefore they save a lot to protect themselves. We need to analyze their anxieties and address the problem squarely. That’s the way to come up with good policy measures. Then consumers may buy one more item in the supermarket.
