Government Bureaucrats—Speak Up!

 ■Government Bureaucrats—Speak Up!

Nowadays, within both the committees and study groups of the government, the bureau directors communicate with committee members at the government offices. When I was in the government, that was assistant section director’s job. Assistant, section director, deputy director, bureau director—it seems like positions within government offices have dropped in rank by three levels in comparison to the private sector or positions within the private sector have risen three levels. 

When political initiative and leadership was called for within the Democratic Party administration 10 years ago, the bureaucracy remained tight-lipped. Neither the Diet nor the committees had any answers, which caused considerable confusion. After the Liberal Democratic Party returned, the prime minister’s office took the lead with the number of bureaucrats increasing slightly, but higher lever bureaucrats are called and still not much was said. 

10 years before it became a political initiative, there was a concerning incident in 1998: the Ministry of Finance bribery case. Four government officials were arrested, suicides occurred, and the minister, vice minister and director resigned. Through the enactment of the Civil Service Ethics Law, Kasumigaseki’s hands were effectively tied with division established between the public and private sectors. Around this time, the bureaucrats began to fall silent. 

However, there are still problems. National power has declined while financial pressures have inescapably increased as AI and other technologies have entered a new dimension, with the world in conflict. The bureaucrats once derided as “too powerful” now remain meek and cowed. I believe they need to wake up and exercise the power they can.

When chairing a council meeting, private committee members are often asked for their opinions, but there are often situations where I would rather hear from the bureaucrats (i.e. the secretariat), as they are really the expert group in their particular field, having gathered the most information. We all know that your average academic can’t compete. 

Right now, though, bureaucrats are too busy preparing materials to be handed out at council meetings, spending all their time and effort producing fancy looking documents. At a council meeting I attended recently, an academic pointed out a minor typo in a document and the bureaucrat apologized. Isn’t this stupid? Pointing out typos should not be the job of bureaucrats or scholars. 

This kind of thing creates unnecessary “busy-work” that wastes time on both sides, raises compliance hurdles, and results in bureaucrats withdrawing and becoming even more reticent. This needs to stop. Government bureaucrats, I implore you to speak up and tell us what you really think. None of the recent policy issues can be solved vertically; they require discussions about horizontal divisions across ministries. 

I’m sure that bureaucrats have no problem making their voices heard inside Kasumigaseki. They put their heads together night after night, sharing ideas and information, and shaping policy. Results are then shown to the council and the committees, after which private committee members make a few quick comments and it becomes policy. These internal discussions inside Kasumigaseki should be out in the open. 

GAFA measures are provided by IT headquarters, Intellectual Property headquarters, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the FTC. Anti-piracy measures are provided by IT headquarters, Intellectual Property headquarters, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency. E-Sports promotions are handled by IT headquarters, Intellectual Property headquarters, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education, the Consumer Affairs Agency and the National Police Agency. I would like to see a forum created where bureaucrats can discuss and make policy.   

The current mechanism involves bureaucrats absorbing the results of open discussions of outside experts and then formulating policy internally within Kasumigaseki. Previously, outside experts would comment on the results of open discussions by bureaucrats and then formulate policy. Doesn’t this seem like a far more productive and efficient way of doing things than the current method, rather than searching for typos in PowerPoints? 

Why not have a few deputy managers discuss some relatively light issues on the Internet? For example, representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education could discuss IT education policy (though this could slide into collective mockery of the Ministry of Finance…).