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Compared with some past occupants of Japan’s prime ministerialresidence, Yoshihiko Noda is a lucky man. One previousincumbent was shot dead there by ultranationalist officers in 1932. Another had to hide from attackers in a servant’s closet.
与在日本首相府住过的一些前任相比，野田佳彦(YoshihikoNoda)是幸运的。1932年，一位在任首相在首相府被极端民族主义官员枪杀，还有一位首相曾被迫躲到一个仆人的橱柜里，逃避攻击者。
Nobody expects another rightist storming of the elegant art deco building, even though in aFinancial Times interview there on Sunday, Mr Noda expressed concern at an emerging air ofexcessive nationalism amid a flaring territorial dispute with China.
这栋优雅的艺术装饰建筑应该不会再有右翼分子袭击，尽管周日在首相府接受英国《金融时报》采访时，野田佳彦表示他还是担忧，在与中国激烈的领土争端中，可能会突然爆发极端民族主义情绪。
But Mr Noda is certainly under political attack. Analysts are unanimous in predicting his rulingDemocratic party will be ousted in an election set for December 16.
但毫无疑问的是，野田面临着政治攻击。分析师普遍预期，野田领导的执政党民主党将会在12月16日的选举中被驱逐。
Defeat would make Mr Noda the seventh man to turn in the keys to the prime minister’s residencein just over six years. Which raises two questions: why does Japan burn through leaders sorapidly? And should the world care who sits in the political hothouse?
如果在选举中失败，野田将会成为短短六年时间中第七位交出首相府钥匙的人。这也就提出了两个问题：为什么日本领导人更换如此频繁？世界是否应该在意日本首相府到底住着谁？
Asked about the spinning prime ministerial carousel, Mr Noda notes that the recent string of briefincumbents began with Shinzo Abe, leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic party and the manwho, opinion polls suggest, will next month become Japan’s first two-time premier in decades.
在被问及日本首相的频繁更换时，野田表示，此轮“短命”首相的轮回从反对党自民党党魁安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)开始。而民调显示，安倍有可能会在下个月成为日本几十年来首位第二次担任首相的人。
In his first tilt at the job, Mr Abe lasted just a year, stepping down in September 2007 almostbroken by scandals and electoral setbacks.
安倍的首次任期只维持了一年，2007年9月下台，丑闻和竞选受挫几乎将他摧毁
Mr Noda is not very forthcoming on why such short prime ministerial careers have become thenorm, saying only that unlike US presidents, Japan’s leaders do not enjoy a fixed term
关于为什么日本“短命”首相已成为一种常态，野田没有直接回答，他只是说日本首相并不像美国总统那样有固定的任期。
Yet his experience in office is revealing, marked by the struggle to maintain the unit of a fractiousruling party while also pushing legislation past an opposition-dominated Dietupper house. This challenge has been the norm in Japan in recent years, since frequent upperhouse elections are used by voters to punish the party in power – a big cause of Mr Abe’s fall in 2007.
然而，野田在任的经历也是颇有启发性的，期间他努力维护一个分裂的执政党的统一性，同时也谋求在反对党主导的议会上院推动立法。近些年，这一挑战在日本政坛已经司空见惯，选民利用频繁的上院选举来惩罚执政党，这也是2007年安倍下台的一个重要原因。
Japanese parties are also much less disciplined than counterparts in other parliamentarydemocracies, such as the UK. The ruling Democratic party and the LDP, for example, containlegislators fiercely against trade liberalisation and others who think it vital.
日本党派也要比英国等其他议会民主制国家的党派缺乏纪律。比如说，自民党和执政党民主党内部，都既有强烈反对贸易自由化的议员，也有认为贸易自由化非常重要的议员。
The DPJ’s first prime minister after its 2009 victory, Yukio Hatoyama, could not fashion suchdivergent views into coherent policy and resigned after less than nine months. His successor, NaotoKan, lasted more than a year but spent much of his later months in office fending off internalrebellion.
民主党首位首相鸠山由纪夫(Yukio Hatoyama)2009年当选之后，无法在分裂的观点中形成统一的政策，不到9个月就辞职。他的继任者菅直人(Naoto Kan)的任期虽然超过了一年，但其任期后半段主要的时间都用于应付内部叛乱。
Mr Noda, who took over in August 2011, was able to last as long as he has only by using cabinetpositions as political balm for internal party strains. But repeated reshuffles made a mockery ofDPJ hopes to establish effective “political leadership” over Japan’s powerful bureaucrats, with manyministers lasting only a few months.
2011年8月上台的野田佳彦，也只是利用他在内阁中的地位作为应对党内紧张关系的政治缓冲剂，来维持其任期。然而，内阁的频繁重组，使得民主党希望为日本强大的官僚机构建立有效的“政治领导力”成为一个笑柄，很多部长的任期都只有几个月。
Yet Mr Noda’s record also offers an argument for why it matters who leads Japan’s government – and suggests even shortlived incumbents can make a mark in office. A relative fiscal hawk, hisdetermined focus on seeking to narrow a yawning government deficit resulted in the passage oflegislation paving the way for a doubling of the 5 per cent consumption tax by 2015.
但野田的经历也让人们有理由认为，谁来领导日本政府还是比较关键的，表明即使是“短命”首相也可以在任期中做出贡献。作为一个相对的财政鹰派人物，他决定将重心放在降低政府不断扩大的赤字上，并通过了一项立法，为2015年之前将5%的消费税翻番奠定了基础。
He also secured opposition backing for a national council on social security reform that shouldsurvive his administration.
同时，他还获得了反对党的支持，建立社保改革全国委员会，并在他卸任后继续发挥作用。
Such moves took courage, not least because the tax rise plan helped shatter the DPJ’s remainingunity. After winning more than 300 seats in the Diet’s 480-seat lower house in 2009, a stream ofdefections mean it does not even command a majority.
这些举措需要勇气，尤其是增税计划让民主党仅有的团结再遭重创。2009年民主党在议会下院480个议席中赢得超过300个议席之后，出现了大量退党行为，致使民主党不再掌握多数。
“I think it would be difficult in any country to ask the public to shoulder a new burden just ahead ofan election,” notes Mr Noda drily.
野田不动声色地说：“我认为不管在哪个国家，在选举之前，让民众来挑起一个新的负担都是比较困难的。”
Mr Noda’s manner in the face of what appears to be certain electoral defeat also demands a certainrespect.
在面对一场看来注定要失败的选举时，野田的表现值得敬佩。
Stung by accusations he was betraying an August pledge to step down “soon” and unwilling torisk being toppled by DPJ rebels, the prime minister dramatically declared his willingness to go tothe polls in a nationally televised Diet debate. In his FT interview, he appeared as calm and assuredas during a previous encounter during the early days of his administration.
有人指责他背叛了8月份关于“不久”将离任的承诺，并且不愿意冒被民主党反叛者驱逐的风险，受此刺激，野田在全国转播的议会辩论中出人意料地宣布：他愿意举行大选。在接受英国《金融时报》的采访时，他表现得与刚刚上任时的一次采访中一样镇定而自信。
Though derided by some for his “political suicide”, one grudging admirer from a Japanese businessgroup likens Mr Noda to a warrior committing hara-kiri – ritual suicide – rather than be taken by hisenemies. “That’s the samurai way,” he says.
尽管有人嘲笑他这是“政治自杀”，日本一个商业组织中的一名不情愿的赞慕者还是将野田的行为比作武士的剖腹自杀——一种仪式自杀，而不是死于敌人之手。他说：“这就是日本武士精神。”
(编辑：何莹莹） |
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发表于 2016-7-11 09:55:48