Iron Triangle Revives

Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communications released the balance of political funding of each party in the year of 2014. The amount of money that Liberal Democratic Party sucked up from industries and organizations exceeded ¥2.2 billion, regaining the level before it had handed administration over Democratic Party of Japan in 2009. It is easily supposed that a part of interest earned through the economic policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to LDP. This is an old connection between party and industry, which has been criticized as collusion.

LDP received ¥1.4 billion of political donation from industries and organizations in 2013, which marked great increase by 42% from the previous year. That was an effusion of expectation to Abe administration getting started in the end of 2012. The amount swelled in 2014, mainly due to reopening of political donation by Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, which was consisted with big names in Japanese business scene. Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara asked 1,300 of its member companies to restart the donation in September 2014.

It is not unusual for LDP leaders to visit headquarters of major companies to ask donation with request of actual amount. According to a report of Asahi Shimbun, Japan Federation of Construction Contractors received two letters every February, one of which was the list of policy achievement with the name of LDP President Abe. Another was request of donation from National Political Association, a political action committee of LDP, with actual amount of money. It should be a hard decision for a major business entity to dismiss that request.

Abenomics has been dubbed as an economic policy package for Japanese major corporations, leaving midsize and small businesses behind. Based on their donation, Keidanren raises voice requiring lower corporation tax rate. LDP is stabilizing its financial basis with donation from business community. With close relationship between LDP and bureaucrats, the iron triangle of politics, bureaucracy and business is reviving.

With decline of DPJ, clean politics sounds obsolete. While total income of LDP was ¥23.9 billion last year, DPJ reduced to ¥7.7 billion with their policy not to receive donation from corporation or business organization. Japan Communist Party manages its finance with sales of newspaper, not depending on donation or subsidy from national budget. Politics independent from money is still hard to achieve.