Word: new
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), they also elected a record number of women to high office. The Diet now includes 96 women among its 722 members in the upper and lower houses. More than one-fourth of them are serving for the first time. (See the new activism of Japan's youth...
...immediate impact on the Diet. But their influx has unquestionably added a dash of diversity - and perhaps will instill some social conscience and sensitivity to the concerns of working-class Japan. "Many came from local legislatures and some have experience in civil movements, which will bring about a new perspective in legislation," says Mari Miura, associate professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo. Japan's female lawmakers are generally seen by voters as kokumin no mesen - ordinary citizens - who have a better understanding of grass-roots issues. "There have been many male-centered policies in Japanese politics," says...
...early stages of the new Diet's first session, Fukuda says her focus as a lawmaker includes increasing access to Japan's health care system, including streamlining the drug-approval process so that life-saving medications can become available more quickly. "We need good social systems so people don't lose hope," she says. "There's so much uncertainty in society right now, so many suicides, so much worry and despair." This emphasis on issues of social justice leads some observers to hope that Ozawa's princesses can make a difference. By running for office, "These women weren't just...
...turned into something else and abandoned what they were. The ANC came to that point ... where we might have fallen." The fix, he says, is in "renewal ... paying attention to [the ANC's] principles [but] talking about ... how we have to do things differently." A presidential adviser underlines the new tone. "The big difference today is that now we have a leadership that says, 'Guys - we've got big problems,'" he says. "Because the truth is, we can't afford another 15 years like this." (See pictures of Johannesburg's preparations for soccer's World...
Some of that talk is being matched by action. In his new government, Zuma began by promoting the good and sacking the bad. The well-regarded former tax commissioner, Pravin Gordhan, became Finance Minister. Barbara Hogan - who as Health Minister ended years of South Africa's attachment to what the U.N. called the "lunatic fringe" of the AIDS world - took Public Enterprise. Zuma fired Hogan's predecessor at health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who recommended beetroot, garlic, lemon juice and potatoes to treat HIV and AIDS, and former police chief Jackie Selebi, who is charged with corruption...