Photo/Illutration Diet members enter the Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 3. (Koichi Ueda)

Defining the representative system as essentially a group of people implementing public policies on behalf of their peers, the first signs of this system were seen during the latter Edo Period (1603-1867).

A popular movement, which took the form of a series of provincial appeals called “kokuso,” arose in areas around Osaka. Some of these appeals were on grand scales that involved entire provinces, as was the case in Settsu and Kawachi.

The movement surged in 1823 when as many as 1,007 villages participated in a mass kokuso against privileged urban merchants. The villages chose 50 representatives to argue for their demand to be allowed to freely sell raw cotton.

The representatives stayed in Osaka to continue presenting their lawful demand to the local magistrates until the case was won.

“The representative system is said to have originated in Europe, but I think there also was a cultural element in Japan that was conducive to that system,” noted Yutaka Yabuta, an emeritus professor at Kansai University, who pursued the subject in “Kokuso to Hyakusho Ikki no Kenkyu” (A study of kokuso and peasant uprising).

One notable conclusion that he drew from his research is that a strong bond of mutual trust existed between the villagers and their chosen representatives.

The villagers took care of the accommodations and communication expenses run up by their representatives, and they even issued power-of-attorney documents in which they wrote that all expenses would be borne by the villages, irrespective of the outcome of the appeal.

In our “mature” representative system today, does a relationship of mutual trust exist between voters and their elected representatives?

An extraordinary session of the Diet was convened on Aug. 3. My sense of distrust grew as I observed lawmakers who refused to explain their ties to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification--formerly known as the Unification Church.

Some legislators stop coming to the Diet when a scandal comes to light, and there also are those who are frequently absent. This time, some newly elected Upper House members didn't even show up.

We pay attention to Diet members’ expenses probably because we can’t really feel that they are actually representing us. 

But the politicians aren’t entirely to blame. We, the people, must ask ourselves how seriously we have taken, or are taking, our right to vote.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 4

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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