Challenging Everything

In the annual policy speech to the Diet on Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisted on his new agenda to mobilize Japanese people for progress. While it was not clear why Abe came to love the word “challenge,” which was one of the words always positive in Japan, he quoted it again and again and declared “challenging one hundred million dynamic engagement.” It was a message of him: watch my economic policy, not security.

Abe did not use “tackle,” but reiterated “challenge” in his speech to explain his determination to deal with the issues like economic growth, low birth rate and longevity, and security environment. In his interpretation, a historical victory to South Africa in World Cup Rugby last year was also a “challenge” of Japan to the world. He knew that the Japanese loved outstanding achievement in the world society and encouraged the people to be involved in his challenge.

Abe raised reform of labor system as on of the most important issues for “dynamic engagement.” “In Nippon One Hundred Million Dynamic Engagement Plan, we are stepping into achievement of same-labor-same-wage system,” said Abe in his speech. Although Same-Labor-Same-Wage Law, submitted by the opposite parties, had passed the Diet last year, the law was castrated by the leading parties through inserting provisions to allow employers additional treatment for permanent employees. Abe is simply trying to make the treatment applicable to part-time workers. Employers can still manipulate salary of their workers.

The Prime Minister also listed his achievement in these three years. “Three years of Abenomics produced great amount of fruits,” boasted Abe. He stressed increase of nominal gross domestic products, gross national income, tax income or improvement of fiscal balance. But, they did not explain why Japanese stock market had been showing steep decline from the beginning of this year. Abe did not address how Japan would survive in this extremely uncertain world economy. “No economic revitalization, no fiscal reconstruction,” said Abe. It was a contradiction with economic slogan of his mentor, Jun-ichiro Koizumi, which was “no reform, no growth.”

He did not forget tickling nationality. Japan is located in the center of the world, because Japan became one of the members of United Nations Security Council this year, group seven -- or eight -- summit will be held in Japan, African leaders will gather for Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or Japan will preside trilateral summit with China and Republic of Korea. For him, they are also “challenges” to the world.