Japan's PM moves closer to TPP, but...

Japan's PM Noda Yoshihiko held a 20-minute Press Conference at 8 pm yesterday, 11 November, and said that Japan will enter into conferring with the interested parties with the aim of joining the negotiations for the TTP(Trans-Pacific Partnership). He did so in the teeth of deep split within the ruling Democratic Party, which advised the PM and the Government to be cautious about joining the negotiations.
Behind this caution is a strong apprehension as to the future of, first and foremost, agriculture and dairy in this country, as was discussed in the previous blog and even before. It is estimated that 90% of domestic rice production will be gone. Reflecting this, almost all the local newspapers are opposed to Japan's joining the TTP. Only a few pro-capital national papers are in support of it.
The PM, not unaware of this apprehension, told the Press that the Government will concentrate its effort on strenghening the competitiveness of large-scale farming. But it is not convincing, in view of the fact that even in Hokkaido, the northernmost major island, where the competitiveness is considered to be greater than elsewhere with its larger-sized farms, the farmers are strongly opposed to the TTP.
The PM said that, Japan being a trade-dependent country, the need of the time is to bring in the energy of the vibrant Asia to revitalize the Japanese economy. But neither China nor India have been or are likely to be a part of it. It will simply end up with importing more products from the US. It will be practically nothing more than the Japan-US FTA. We must watch Korea carefully now, which has just concluded FTA with the US, but there are dissatisfactions with the agreement. It is wrong to characterize Japan as a trade-dependent nation. We have relied to a far greater extent on the growth of the domestic purchasing power. It is this power that has been greatly damaged in the past two decades by the policies and are badly in need of reconstructing.
If so, when the PM told the Press that he is determined to rebuild a stable society supported by wide strata of the middle classes, but he is simply talking untruth, however beautiful his words may be. How to rebuild middle classes exposed to a strong northern wind called TTP, under the burden of heavy taxes, high cost of medical care, education, housing, etc., or with a considerable part of the industrial base transferred abroad, as is shown by the recent floods in Thailand affecting all the car manufacturers in Japan.
Finally TTP is not just agricultural, or industrial. It includes 24 different sectors. What are expected in those sectors are not known yet, or the Government is not kind enough to inform the people.