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'Cut that budget' is big online hit in Japan
Source: Agencies |
November 18, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JAPAN'S new government has found a novel way to appeal to voters worried about mounting national debt - broadcasting its clashes with bureaucrats over spending cuts live on the Internet.
Operating out of makeshift offices in a Tokyo gym, three government-appointed panels made up of ruling party lawmakers and private sector experts have until the end of next week to cut waste from a record 95 trillion yen (US$1 trillion) in budget requests made by ministries for the financial year starting in April.
Exposing a process previously kept behind closed doors seems to have pleased voters concerned about the national debt, which at nearly 200 percent of GDP is the highest among developed nations.
An Asahi newspaper poll showed 76 percent of respondents supported Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's cost-cutting efforts highly.
"It's the first time this has been done, and everyone is enjoying seeing the bureaucrats being subjected to a kangaroo court," political commentator Minoru Morita.
News shows broadcast highlights from the deliberations each evening, often focusing on Democratic Party lawmaker Renho, a stylish former TV presenter who grills squirming bureaucrats about the effectiveness of projects and the substantial salaries paid to those who manage them.
The results of the rapid-fire debates on each project are scrawled on a whiteboard: "canceled," "budget cut" or occasionally "to continue."
The list ranges from supercomputer and rocket development to subsidies for the money-losing Kansai International Airport near Osaka.
On the first day of the broadcasts last week, the Website almost crashed because thousands of people logged on to watch at the same time, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
Operating out of makeshift offices in a Tokyo gym, three government-appointed panels made up of ruling party lawmakers and private sector experts have until the end of next week to cut waste from a record 95 trillion yen (US$1 trillion) in budget requests made by ministries for the financial year starting in April.
Exposing a process previously kept behind closed doors seems to have pleased voters concerned about the national debt, which at nearly 200 percent of GDP is the highest among developed nations.
An Asahi newspaper poll showed 76 percent of respondents supported Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's cost-cutting efforts highly.
"It's the first time this has been done, and everyone is enjoying seeing the bureaucrats being subjected to a kangaroo court," political commentator Minoru Morita.
News shows broadcast highlights from the deliberations each evening, often focusing on Democratic Party lawmaker Renho, a stylish former TV presenter who grills squirming bureaucrats about the effectiveness of projects and the substantial salaries paid to those who manage them.
The results of the rapid-fire debates on each project are scrawled on a whiteboard: "canceled," "budget cut" or occasionally "to continue."
The list ranges from supercomputer and rocket development to subsidies for the money-losing Kansai International Airport near Osaka.
On the first day of the broadcasts last week, the Website almost crashed because thousands of people logged on to watch at the same time, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
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