Katsuya Okada
Katsuya Okada
Katsuya Okadais a Japanese politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Japan from January to December 2012. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he is the President of the Democratic Party, and previously of the Democratic Party of Japan. He also served as Secretary-General of the DPJ three times. During the DPJ's period in government he was Foreign Minister of Japan...
ability leader members necessary party stick utterly youth
I think our party members staked (the party's future) on the Maehara's youth and ability ... It is utterly necessary for each DPJ lawmaker and other rank-and-file members to back the new leader and stick together.
came change efforts finally opportunity steadily
We've been steadily making efforts for this day. Now we have finally came to this opportunity to change the government.
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(Prime Minister Junichiro) Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party focused on a single issue of pros and cons regarding postal privatization--and the voters' attention was diverted to it.
accept affairs assertion believe foreign issues naive people postal prime resolved services
I don't believe that the people are naive enough to accept the prime minister's assertion that foreign affairs and other issues will be resolved if the postal services are privatized.
arguing debate
I did what I had to do, but it was frustrating that we were never really arguing on the same plane. I wanted to debate policy.
believe firmly focus message policies reach regret stance
I firmly believe our stance to focus on our policies was not wrong. Our message did not reach people. I regret that.
change happen reform true
True reform can only happen with a change in government.
areas biggest defeat lost major reason seats supposed urban
The biggest reason for our defeat is that we lost a lot of seats in urban areas where we were supposed have major support,
expect policies
We did not expect this. I don't think our policies were wrong, but we must reconsider our tactics.
celebrate news
We'd like to celebrate the news with the people.
achieve cannot change government importance issues pension stress
We want to stress the importance of pension and child-care issues ... The Koizumi government cannot achieve these reforms. We need a change in government,
internal japan power reform spends starts time tomorrow
The reform of Japan starts today. There is no tomorrow for the Koizumi LDP government, which spends all its time in internal power struggles.
clear great overall situation suffered
The overall situation has now become clear ... the DPJ has suffered a great setback.
change ensure order reform success time
There is no time left. We must change the administration in order to ensure the success of the reform initiatives.