参院選： ねじれ国会再び ― twisted leadership

お祭り騒ぎの参院選が終わりました。結果は与党民主党の敗北となりましたが、参院と衆院で第一党が違ってくる、”ねじれ国会”がまたしても発生してしまったと、各紙が報道しています。

下記のWall Street Journalの見出しが目を引きました。


Japan's Twisted Leadership

It's often an ideal outcome for investors: A government unable to effect any change is a government that will produce no surprises. Not so in Japan, where a massive debt burden, stagnant economy and entrenched deflation make policy inaction more frightening.

Soundly defeated in Sunday's elections, Japan's ruling coalition now finds itself facing an impotent future. The ruling bloc led by the Democratic Party of Japan lost its majority in the Upper House. It won't get a chance ...
(The Wall Street Journal. July 12, 2010.)

記事はこちら。


"twisted"は物理的な形容としても、”ねじれ”そのものですが、”ねじれ国会”という日本語の表現が、英語表現の"twisted"として採用されたのでしょうか？そう思って検索してみると、共同通信の英文記事に当たりました。


In the last upper house election in 2007, the then ruling coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party lost control of the chamber and faced policy deadlock amid a divided Diet. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped down two months after the election, citing bad health.

The division, or "twist" as the Japanese call it, could trigger a political realignment in which the DPJ finds it necessary to reconfigure the ruling coalition. But analysts say such a possibility remains remote as the DPJ has pretty much dispelled the negative image of its former leaders.
(Upper house election could herald major political shift. Kyodo News. July 12, 2010.)


記事はこちら。