IT HAS been called the world’s most expensive electoral bribe, but a 2 trillion yen (€1.6 billion) cash handout has begun dribbling its way into the pockets of millions of Japanese citizens.
Villagers in northern Japan were the first to receive the cash payments of 12,000 to 20,000 yen each yesterday as part of a controversial government plan to boost the crisis-hit economy.
The brainchild of prime minister Taro Aso, the handout was rubber-stamped this week after fierce opposition, including some from Mr Aso’s own Liberal Democrats (LDP). The opposition Democrats (DPJ) fought it in a campaign that drew hundreds of thousand of signatures.
Several local governors also criticised the scheme, which one forecast suggests will boost domestic consumption by just 0.1 per cent. “I cannot even visualise that amount of money,” said Shinji Hirai, governor of Tottori Prefecture, 400km southwest of Tokyo. “It would pay our budget for five years.”
Mr Aso is struggling to hold his government together and said the payment was needed to rescue Japan from what he called a “once-in-a-century recession”.
Opponents have accused him of trying to bribe the electorate ahead of a general election, which he must call by September. The government is widely tipped to lose its half-century grip on power.
The stimulus package has been lampooned in the popular press, which pointed out that newborns, prison inmates, yakuza gangsters and even Mr Aso – one of the richest men in Japanese politics – are eligible for the handout.
Mr Aso announced this week that he and his whole cabinet would take the cash, despite previously branding rich people who accepted it “mean spirited”. “I will use it immediately to stimulate consumption in my home district,” he said to incredulous reporters.