英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Dec. 1, 2012)
Ishin no Kai must offer more than Ishihara, Hashimoto names
維新の会公約　二枚看板だけの戦いにするな（11月30日付・読売社説）

There can be no denying that the campaign pledges announced Thursday by Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) for the upcoming general election are half-baked and seemingly hastily prepared.
　政策が生煮えで、急ごしらえであることは否めない。

We fear the newly formed party is not ready to achieve its professed goal of taking the reins of government.
これで国政を担えるのだろうか。

In a news conference the same day, party leader Shintaro Ishihara stated his party "will dismantle the rigid administrative control of the central government bureaucrats," declaring the party will drastically review the nation's state of being.
　日本維新の会が衆院選政権公約を発表した。
　石原慎太郎代表は、記者会見で「硬直した中央官僚の支配を壊す」と述べ、国のあり方を抜本的に見直すことを唱えた。

The Democratic Party of Japan too once tooted the horn of "rooting out the vested interests of Kasumigaseki," Tokyo's government district, but the DPJ has failed to realize many of its policy pledges. We cannot help but feel Ishin no Kai is making the same flimsy but treacherous move, which gained the DPJ much publicity but amounted to little.
　かつて民主党も「霞が関の既得権益を一掃する」と大言壮語したものの、多くの公約を実現できなかった。維新の会にも、似たような危うさを感じざるを得ない。

Voters should not be expected to evaluate Ishin no Kai simply through the personal characteristics of Ishihara and the party's acting leader Toru Hashimoto.
　石原、橋下徹両氏の個性だけでは有権者は判断できない。

We urge the party to develop its current platform into a well-thought-out package of persuasive, feasible policies.
やはり、説得力のある実行可能な政策に練り上げていく必要がある。

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Short on specifics

The party's platform called the pitiful state of government finances "unsustainable," though when it came to how to achieve fiscal rehabilitation, the party equivocated.
　公約は、借金依存の財政について「維持不可能」と断定した。

With social security expenses swelling by 1 trillion yen per year, new revenue sources are urgently needed, but Ishin no Kai failed to mention anything more concrete than creating a special inheritance tax to fund pension payments. Furthermore, the party said the consumption tax--the bulwark that shores up the social security system--should be turned over to full local control.
　しかし、財政再建を実現する道筋は不透明である。年に１兆円ずつ増える社会保障費についても新たな財源は、年金目的の特別相続税の新設などとあるだけだ。しかも、社会保障を支えてきた消費税は地方税化するという。

Ishin no Kai's campaign pledges do not present effective remedies for the nation's challenges, such as the fiscal crisis and constructing a sustainable pension and health-care systems.
　公約を読む限りでは、財政危機への対応や、持続可能な年金、医療制度の構築について、有効な処方箋を示したとは言えない。

Meanwhile, the party seems to be vacillating on its nuclear energy policy.
　原発政策は揺れているように見える。

Its platform sets a goal of "breaking the nation's dependence on nuclear power generation," and says existing nuclear plants would "fade out by the 2030s as a result," but the party failed here as well to get specific.
「脱原発依存」を掲げ、既存の原発は「結果として、２０３０年代までにフェードアウトする」と言及したが、曖昧だ。

It is also problematic that Ishin no Kai's platform does not explain how to handle the issue of reactivating the nation's mostly idle nuclear reactors. If the party supports continuing to use nuclear power for at least the time being, it should say so in its platform.
　原発の再稼働問題への対応を明記していないことも問題である。当面、原発を活用するのなら、公約にそう書き込むべきだ。

Although the party deserves praise for supporting revisions to the Constitution, we question the advisability of the changes it called for, such as electing the prime minister by popular vote, something we believe would likely devolve into a mere popularity contest, and abolishing the House of Councillors, a goal that would be extremely difficult to achieve.
　憲法改正を打ち出したのは結構だが、人気投票に陥りがちな「首相公選制」や、極めて難しい「参院廃止」などを具体例として挙げたのは理解に苦しむ。

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Clarify priorities

The unintelligibility of Ishin no Kai's election pledges when seen as a whole is mainly because it juxtaposes policies that need to be addressed immediately with medium- and long-term tasks. The party needs to clarify which of its plans will get the highest priority.
　全体として、公約が分かりにくいのは、すぐに着手する政策と、中長期の課題を一律に並べているからだ。実現の優先順位を明確にしてもらいたい。

Nevertheless, the party is correctly pledging to support Japan's participation in talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, as this would allow the growth potential of the economies of Asia to be tapped. Along with this, it is reasonable that the party wants to reform the agricultural sector to enhance the international competitiveness of Japan's farm produce.
　一方、アジアの発展を取り込むための環太平洋経済連携協定（ＴＰＰ）について「交渉参加」を掲げたのは評価できる。これに備えて農業にメスを入れ、競争力を高めようとする姿勢も妥当である。

The party's platform, for instance, rightly points out the need to limit the number of beneficiaries of the income guarantee system for individual farmers, which was created by the DPJ administration, so that it supports only full-time farm households. We also agree with its call to carry out a drastic review of the nation's agricultural cooperatives.
　例えば、民主党政権が創設した戸別所得補償を専業農家に限定することや、農協組織の大幅見直しを目指すという。

On diplomatic and security policy, the party has incorporated into its platform the goal of freeing the nation to exercise its right to collective self-defense.
　外交・安保政策では、集団的自衛権の行使を盛り込んだ。

Enabling our country to exercise this right would help deepen the alliance with the United States, the core of Japan's foreign policy.
これは外交の基軸である日米同盟の深化に欠かせない。

We strongly hope Ishin no Kai will do its best to help realize this.
ぜひ実現を図ってもらいたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 30, 2012)
（2012年11月30日01時28分 読売新聞）