The fall of Tokyo governor

The governorship of Tokyo, which has a population of 13 million, is a public office that requires the largest amount of votes won among all elections in Japan. Under Japan's parliamentary cabinet system , the prime minister is determined by a voting by lawmakers of a majority party. As Japan has a long tradition of regional autonomy, the power and responsibility of Japan's prefectures and municipalities are bigger than those of Korean provincial governors and mayors. In particular, the governor of Tokyo, who is administrative chief executive of Japan's capital city, is under intensive attention and surveillance by the media.

Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe was a professor of international politics at Tokyo University. He made his name as a television commentator with his aggressive debating style. He ran for Tokyo governor in 1999, only to be defeated by Shintaro Ishihara, a nationalistic commentator famous for his book "Season of the Sun." In 2001, Masuzoe was elected to the House of Councillors on the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) slate in 2001.

Even after entering politics, Masuzoe's foul mouth did not change. He called Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first cabinet launched in September 2006 "a company run by a foolish president and foolish managing director." When Abe refused to resign after his party's crushing defeat in the House of Councillors elections in August 2007, Masuzoe fired a direct shot at Abe, saying, "There is no medicine for a fool." After Abe appointed him as health minister, many analysts viewed it as an attempt to shut him up. While serving as health minister, he did not stop making harsh remarks, including his derogatory reference to the jobless people as "lazy." Although he criticized and bolted out of the LDP in 2010, Abe and the party provided full support for him in the 2014 election, helping him get elected Tokyo mayor. Politics is hard to comprehend.

Pushed to a corner by allegations that he went on luxurious overseas trips and used official vehicles and public funds for personal expenses, Masuzoe has resigned as Tokyo governor. The fact that he applied harsh ethical standards to others but failed to tidy up his own behavior after gaining power became bigger shackles for him. To many heads of local governments in Korea, waste of taxpayers' money and failure to keep one's private and public life separate are not somebody else's business. Many of them would be chilled by the fall of Masuzoe.

권순활논설위원 shkwon@donga.com