A Land With No Sides.(Japanese politics)

Junichi Saito knows all about freedom of choice. At the Tokyo electronics store where he works, customers encounter a mind-boggling array of high-tech gadgets tailored to their every need. In politics, however, Japan is like a North Korean Friendship Store, where all the televisions tune to a single channel and shoppers face a bleak option: take it or leave it. That's why the 27-year-old doesn't feel obliged to participate in Japanese democracy. "Everything is run by the [ruling] Liberal Democratic Party, and they all think alike," he says. "Even if I voted, and my friends voted, and all their friends voted, nothing would change."

Experts have their theories about young Japan's political apathy. They blame a consensus-based culture and an educational system that stresses rote memorization over critical thinking. Good points, to be sure, but similar elements are present in South Korea. To hear Japan's young generation tell it, the reason is far simpler: the system itself is stacked against them. Powerful LDP constituencies, vested interests like farmers and construction, are the only voices heard. The youth, with no ties to a powerful economic bloc of their own, are ignored in Japan's money politics. So when Japanese reach the voting age of 20 years old, most would no sooner cast ballots than wear last year's fashions. "Politicians are only interested in business owners and company presidents--people with money," says 25-year-old Takayuki Mori. "I don't think it matters if I vote."

Unlike in Korea, where political parties differ ideologically, Japan's equivalents are a hodgepodge. In terms of policy, the LDP and its most powerful Diet rival, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, are virtual clones. Each boasts hawks who favor revising Japan's Constitution to strengthen the military and doves who advocate disarmament, as well as market-oriented economic reformers and pork- barrel populists. In fact, both are far more divided internally than ...