The issue on the political reforms has become more and more as a critical issue. The report which was issued by the 8th Electoral System Research Council on April 1990 was agreed by the LDP but in failed to pass the Diet. In this current situation, it is natural that the title "The Problems Related to the Political Reforms" was discussed at the symposium of the Japan Association of Legal and Political Science, 1991. We all admit the significance of the report issued by the Council which consists solely by non-politicians, however;we are also aware that the Council is also an advisory body of the Premier and the report is far from satisfactory. As our objectives being proposals of the new ideas which supplement current reform plans, this year's reports given at the symposium was very meaningful to the all members. The three reports, "The Correcting of the Representative Values" by Prof. Aminaka; "The Political Reforms and Electoral System" by Prof. Iwagami; and "The History of British Effors in Purifying the Political Funds" by Prof. Tomisaki all introduced the systems taken in the other countries to point out the weak points of the current plans. When we discuss the political reforms, it can be discussed on three main areas; the representative value, the electoral systems and the political funds. Although these three areas include wide range of technical problems, the things we must be aware of are the importance of the idea which the reforms are based on the importance of the Japanese culture when systems are considered. In otherwords, the reforms must be done under a posture which askes for whom and why the reforms have to be done otherwise the reforms could end up only as very superficial ones that are filled with politician's compromises. The three reports given at the symposium all cited other countries systems but it is naive for us to think they will work for Japan also. It is very dangerous to discuss the system without considering cultural differences. There is a need for us to introduce a system that best suits Japan. The issue on the political reforms is very difficult indeed. It doesn't only includes highly technical problmes but also many others. The current reform plans are far from satisfactory because they emphasize too much of the technical problems. We need to think more about our ideals and cultures. The technique is the way to achieve our goal and not the goal itself. If the current reform plans are to become really for our citizens, they need to be improved. As member of our Association, we all need further study on this issue as well as keeping a close eye on the plans.
