It is uncontroversial to note that politicians seek power; opposition parties have fewer tools to change policy. Beyond that, this second narrative is fundamentally wrong: Ozawa’s political career since the early 1990s has been driven by a political project, a project that cannot be reduced to a simple desire to get him and his party elected. Instead, it is about reshaping Japan’s institutions of governance.
Japan: Reflections on Ozawa from two former aides
Published: 18 February 2010 Reading Time: 1 mins
In Brief
There are two narratives about Ichiro Ozawa, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). One is that he is a wizard at elections. This reputation was enhanced by his masterminding of the DPJ’s 2009 electoral strategy that helped bring about the first real change of government through the ballot box in sixty years.
The second is that, rather than being a politician of firm convictions, Ozawa is a machine politician animated by the desire to secure and retain power for its own sake. Investigations into alleged corruption fuel this narrative.