In Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan, there is a place called "Nagata Town", which is less than two kilometers in circumference, but it is the political center of the whole of Japan, equivalent to Zhongnanhai in China and Blue House in South Korea. And the successive Japanese prime ministers often laugh at themselves as "the mayor of Nagata Town"

The town of Nagata is actually a hill that is not tall. At the beginning of the Edo period, a family surnamed "Nagata" built a house here and set up a horse farm called "Nagata Bababa". Since then, some of the lords have built villas in the area and set up Hie Shrine, making it a place where the powerful gathered. During the Meiji period, the Japanese government established the Ministry of War here, making Nagata Town synonymous with the "Army General Staff Headquarters" or "militarist base camp" at that time. In 1936, the National Diet Building was built in Nagatacho, and in addition to the Imperial Palace, where the emperor lived, the main functions of the central government of Japan began to be concentrated in Nagata Town, and people began to call "Japanese politics" "Nagata Town".

The current town of Nagata is located in the center of Tokyo, on the edge of the Imperial Palace. It is home to central institutions such as the National Assembly Building, the Prime Minister's Office, the Office of Members of the National Assembly, and the National Diet Library, as well as a variety of party offices and parliamentary offices. The environment is quiet and elegant, but also shrouded in a somewhat mysterious atmosphere, and the surrounding noisy street markets are really otherworldly, like a fairyland.

But in fact, the invisible power struggles have never stopped in Nagata Town.

In order to become the owner of the Prime Minister's Office, top politicians from all over Japan. Year after year, a life-and-death power game is played here.

Some of them had a great time, some had a good time, and many more went crazy after early success and eventually got away with it.

At this moment, Chief Cabinet Secretary Junzaburo Izumita, who has been in office for less than a month, is standing in the courtyard of the prime minister's official residence with a gloomy expression, smoking a cigarette. While watching the exit of another Japanese prime minister, Prime Minister Ebihara Shota, who had only been in office for 24 days, sparked a nationwide riot because of his reckless move to raise the consumption tax. Zuihou was exhausted at the center of the public opinion and the Diet attack, and unfortunately when the meeting was held in the early hours of this morning, he suddenly suffered a myocardial infarction and died suddenly. And his Ebihara cabinet also fell.

Then, this afternoon, the family of former Prime Minister Ebihara Shota packed up his belongings, vacated his residence and office, and then left slowly with tears in his eyes under the escort of the Metropolitan Police Department's mobile team -- the riots in downtown Tokyo had not yet completely subsided, and the funeral procession might be attacked by mobs on the way -- holding the coffin of the former prime minister, and slowly wiping away with tears in his eyes amid the accompaniment of mourning music and the chanting of the monks.

At this time, the entrance to the Prime Minister's official residence was still in a mess because it had not yet been cleared. Littered with flags and banners dropped by the demonstrators before they were dispersed, there are also broken shoes, torn clothes and all kinds of garbage, making it look like the audience after a baseball game has just ended. In a few low-lying places, dried blood can be faintly seen - traces of demonstrations and mobile squad crackdowns.

Looking at the hearse that gradually moved away from the entrance of the official residence, Junzaburo Izumida sighed and dropped the cigarette. In a standard 90-degree posture, he bowed to the rear of the car and said goodbye to the former prime minister and his uncle.

-- Prime Minister Ebihara, my dear uncle, you really got away with it this time!

In fact. The so-called increase in Japan's consumption tax rate to 40 percent is nothing more than a vague proposal thrown out by Prime Minister Ebihara, which has neither been approved by the Diet nor approved by a vote at all -- because it was originally just an expedient measure that Prime Minister Ebihara himself came up with with a pat on his head, and he did not even take it seriously, but only used it to stall for time, relieve stress, and fool people. And the public anger that erupted because of this was also expected by the prime minister in advance and deliberately contributed to it - otherwise how could he fool people? …,

It is a pity that Prime Minister Ebihara obviously underestimated the opposition's ability to incite and its determination to topple the cabinet, and also overestimated his own ability to govern...... The "organizational experience" of the 2011 London riots was used by the opposition led by the Liberal Democratic Party!

Moreover, the energy of the Japanese opposition party is much stronger than that of the gangsters in London in the past, although Zuihou is still out of control.

In short, the end result of this turmoil is that Prime Minister Ebihara played with fire, not only ruining his own reputation, status and life, but even the Unity Party government has already been sentenced to death, and now he is just waiting to be executed on the execution ground.

However, as a top student who graduated from the University of Tokyo, Junzaburo Izumida can actually understand Prime Minister Ebihara's helplessness and distress.

-- Since the collapse of the bubble economy in the 90s of the last century, the Japanese government's finances have fallen into such a strange circle: Japan's economy has been in a slump for a long time, and government revenues have been declining year by year, but it has been difficult to reduce expenditures. For example, in 2011, the government's budget expenditure was 92.4 trillion yen, while its revenue was only 41 trillion yen, which was only half of the expenditure. Therefore, if the government wants to increase spending and stimulate the economy, it can only continue to issue bonds. In order to repay the debt, the government had to consider raising taxes, but the tax increase in turn inhibited economic development.

As time passed, the debt accumulated year after year, eventually exceeding GDP by several times, and the Japanese government's fiscal problems have become too big to recover. Although the Icelandic government, in a similar situation, could decisively launch a referendum to declare the country bankrupt, which made a group of European investors jump to the brink, and it is said that they also swallowed the British Queen's private money deposited in the Bank of Iceland. However, the problem is that the Japanese government owes not mainly foreign debts but domestic debts, and if the country is declared bankrupt and the national debts are invalidated, the result may not be the surprise of its friends or the wrath of the foreign powers. Rather, it is the bankruptcy of the whole country, or rather the bankruptcy of a bunch of big chaebols, and then the collapse of banks affects the common people......

What's more, in order to support the declining country, the chaebols have bought a lot of Japanese government bonds regardless of their own loss of income, and now the government is actually going to give them a knife. Squeeze a little oil and water out of zuihou...... Not to mention whether this is too unconscionable, will people obediently let you go under the knife? Don't forget, the chaebols are the ones who really control Japan -- without considering the US imperialism.

In order to solve the problem of fiscal deficit. Successive Japanese prime ministers have tried many methods, the simplest of which is to print money. It's a pity that Japan is not an American imperialist, and the yen is not a dollar. There is no way to levy seigniorage on Quanshijie and plunder other countries economically -- in modern history, I am afraid that only Chairman Chiang and Mr. Song Ziwen would really think that banknotes are money, and that they can just print them when they have no money to spend.

In the end, the yen's quantitative easing policy can only create inflation in its own country - the denomination of the yen banknotes is already quite large, and then it will depreciate...... It's really developing rapidly in the direction of the Stygian Coin.

At the same time, in order to divert social contradictions and release domestic pressure, Japan has again engaged in a series of tosses and turns, such as the transformation of the Self-Defense Forces into the National Defense Forces, and the transformation of the National Defense Forces back into the Self-Defense Forces. Countless money was spent, but nothing was gained, and none of the pre-set strategic goals were achieved.

What's worse is that since the defeat in the Pacific War, Japan has always had a huge vampire lying on its back. Beneath the superficial exuberance. Japan has become a de facto colony of the United States - the United States has forcibly plundered tens of trillions of dollars from Japan through long-term credit banking and financial liberalization; The U.S. troops stationed in Japan made it impossible for Japan to resist the U.S. sheep shearing, and even the "Plaza Agreement", which induced the collapse of the bubble economy and destroyed the myth of Japan, the Japanese could only sign it with tears in the end; And Japanese politicians who try to resist the United States and restore national independence, such as Kakuei Tanaka, are often miserably. …,

Shota Ebihara, who was originally just an ordinary member of the parliament. It was only because of the tragic death of the previous prime minister who took the entire cabinet team to Washington that he was lucky enough to come to power -- the current chief cabinet secretary, Junzaburo Izumita, was also killed in a plane crash by the former chief cabinet secretary -- but as soon as he took office, the prime minister was faced with such a terrible situation: high debts, a deficit in the public treasury, a weak economy, high unemployment, and a decline in international influence......

Of course, the Japanese have been living in such an environment for decades, and they have long been accustomed to it, and there are not many complaints to say.

But the problem is that Prime Minister Ebihara, who has just taken office and is still a little ignorant, will face the persecution of the American lord as soon as he takes office!

On the one hand, the Washington authorities are trying their best to collect the funds for the US military stationed in Japan, which have been in arrears for more than half a year, and on the other hand, they have thrown out a number of "economic cooperation agreements" aimed at further turning Japan into slaves, and in addition, they have forced the Japanese Government, which is already heavily indebted, to continue to pay a large amount of money to buy US Treasury bonds.

As a result, Prime Minister Ebihara, who quickly became anxious under domestic and external pressure, and lacked basic political experience, -- before he entered politics, he was originally just a university professor and belonged to the standard nerd -- actually came up with a dangerous trick of playing with fire: in order to solve the fiscal dilemma and perfunctory demands of the United States, he planned to first throw out a fiscal balance plan that was impossible to pass -- raising the consumption tax rate to 40% -- so as to provoke a wave of opposition from the Diet and the people, and then use this as a reason to pretend to be pitiful. Perfunctory unreasonable coercion from the United States, begging for some time. In short, it is better to delay until the cabinet collapses......

However, despite the fact that Prime Minister Ebihara thinks that he is sitting on a fire pit and is sitting on pins and needles every day, there is still no telling how many politicians in Japan are waiting to kick him out of the Prime Minister's residence in Nagata Town.

What's even worse is that the cabinet ministers under him have collectively become anti-bone boys - first they tried their best to approve and sing carols when this unreliable Jihua proposed, and then stabbed him in the back at a critical moment, causing Prime Minister Ebihara to almost have a nervous breakdown.

As a result, in the midst of the condemnation, reprimand, and riot of the people of the whole country for the "atrocities of tax increases", and in the resentment and pain of the collective betrayal of the vast majority of cabinet members, Prime Minister Ebihara was so angry that he died of myocardial infarction, and finally left Nagata Town in a coffin.

And then. An even more bizarre Prime Minister with a second illness walked into the Prime Minister's residence in Nagata Town and took the baton from Prime Minister Ebihara.

――――――――――――――――――――――――

“…… Izumita-san, please tell me truthfully, what is your Unity Party thinking this time? Actually let a retired secondary school girl idol singer be the prime minister? ”

At this time, the people who roared at Chief Cabinet Secretary Junzaburo Izumida were the current governor of Tokyo, Kamijo Keikatsu, Junzaburo Izumita's classmate and roommate at the University of Tokyo, and old friends who had been dating for decades.

I saw the governor of Kamijo Keikatsu, who was originally very particular about demeanor. At this time, he was extremely rude and pulled Junzaburo Izumita's sleeve, and at the same time, his forehead was bruised, pointing to the one that had just hung in front of the Prime Minister's official residence, and wrote "Smash it!" Reality! Balloon banner. There was also the six-pointed star magic array stage built in the courtyard, and he roared with a nervous breakdown, "...... And also. What is the current Prime Minister of Little Bird Swimming preparing to do? Is it a solo concert at the Prime Minister's Office? And it's also magical girl style? ”

“…… Almost! Shinbaek-chan said that he wanted to hold a most innovative inauguration ceremony, and use singing to eliminate violence and restore peace. ”…,

Junzaburo Izumida pulled his sleeve from Kamijo Keikatsu's hand with a frown, and replied slowly, "...... Since Prime Minister Xiaotoriyou wants to be Lin Mingmei in the 21st century, then I, as an uncle, naturally have to help her set up. ”

“…… My God! Sure enough, it's the idea of a girl with a second disease! But this is Tokyo! Not Battlestar Macross! ”

The expression on Kamijo Keikatsu's face seemed to be so entangled that he didn't know how to complain, "...... What exactly do you solidarity party think? not only put her on the prime minister's throne, but also connived at her to be so nonsense? Cosplay Macross at the Prime Minister's Residence? ”

“…… It doesn't matter what the Unity Party thinks, because in a few days there will be no Unity Party. ”

Junzaburo Izumida shrugged his shoulders. “…… I think you should also know that the major opposition parties have begun to openly concatenate together. It only took a few days for the Metropolitan Police Department to quell the riot and the parties to complete the coordination. Impeachment will be initiated in Congress.

On the other hand, our Solidarity Party was in disrepute, the hearts of the people were scattered to the extreme, and almost all the main cadres defected. The Restoration Party and the Sun Party, which were originally in coalition with us, are also preparing to defect, so they are sure to lose...... In short, it will be three or four days at the earliest. In half a month at the latest, the United Party will fall apart, and the current cabinet will naturally disappear. ”

Speaking of this, Junzaburo Izumida couldn't help but shrug his shoulders again and joked, "...... Our Prime Minister Kotoriyu may be able to break the record of Japan's post-war cabinet collapse speed again! In that case, our Unity Party will also be able to go down in history! ”

For such a bitter ridicule, Governor Kamijo Keikatsu really didn't know what to say for a while.

In the Unity government elected this year, the collapse of the government is not part of the country's political activity, but the whole of it's political activity!

In less than 10 months, the Unity Party government, which had been extremely strange from the very beginning of its establishment, changed five prime ministers in a row, and broke the record for the shortest post-war Japanese cabinet -- perhaps a third time in a few days.

According to Junzaburo Izumita's thoughts, this Prime Minister Kotori Yu Mahaku should be the Prime Minister of the Unity Party.

Next, whether Mahaku Kotori is impeached or resigns himself, the Unity Party will be dissolved...... So, in this zuihou for a few days, just let her play!

“…… Sounds like the Sengoku Period's Akechi Mitsuhide's 'Three Days Under Heaven' (Note)? Kamijo Keikatsu touched his chin and thought, "...... But even so, it's just too strange to have your niece prime minister. Even if she is the current theoretical vice president of the Solidarity Party...... As is customary, isn't it up to you, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, to act as Prime Minister? ”

-- According to the law, the position of the chief cabinet secretary of Japan is basically equivalent to that of the secretary general of the government, who coordinates and communicates with other departments of the cabinet and acts as a spokesman on behalf of the "face" of the government.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary is elected from among the members of the Diet and oversees the work of the Cabinet Secretariat and its staff. When the Prime Minister is unable to hold office for more than five days, the Chief Cabinet Secretary can also act as the Prime Minister, so it is usually held by someone close to the Prime Minister.

It just so happened that former Prime Minister Ebihara Shota was the uncle of Junzaburo Izumita, who in turn was the uncle of Mahaku Kotori - so Junzaburo Izumita, who was a relative of the two prime ministers, continued to serve as chief cabinet secretary...... It can also be said to be nepotism!

――――――――――――――――――――――

Note: In 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide, the commander of the Oda family stationed in Kyoto, was dissatisfied with Oda Nobunaga's mistreatment, and launched the Honnoji Rebellion in Kyoto, burning the overlord Oda Nobunaga to death in the temple. Subsequently, Akechi Mitsuhide coerced the imperial court to canonize himself as the general of Zhengyi, claiming to have mastered the world. However, on the third day after Akechi Mitsuhide became the general of the expedition, Hashiba Hideyoshi (i.e., Toyotomi Hideyoshi) led his troops from the Western Front to Gyeonggi and fought the Yamazaki Battle (also known as the Battle of Tennoyama) with Akechi Mitsuhide.

PS: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary is very similar to Secretary Humphrey in the British drama "Yes, Prime Minister", but the stability is far less - the Chief Cabinet Secretary is a parliamentarian and a politician, not a civil servant like the United Kingdom, and once the government falls, the Chief Cabinet Secretary will lose office.