The Kanemaru Legacy

Abstract

Though resigning from the Diet in 1992, Kanemaru formally retired only in December 1994 when he turned 80 years old. The international media carried lengthy obituaries after Kanemaru’s death on March 28, 1996. Formal court documents revealed that Kanemaru died as he was born: a very rich man, worth a minimum of $45 million. Media polls in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed that Japan’s citizens desired systemic changes in politics (direct election of the Prime Minister, eliminating money from the electoral process), but what they received in 1994 was a rejiggered single-seat constituency system called “the Hosokawa reforms.” Japan needs a consistent, large-scale mass movement to pressure the political system to change, become more democratic and accountable to its citizens, and avoid the reappearance of “Kanemaru politics.”