Ampontan — aka the yarase blogger — appears to have abandoned Abe Shinzo for...Foreign Minister Aso Taro.At least that's what I conclude from this love letter he wrote to Aso yesterday.Is there any serious likelihood of Aso ascending to the premiership in the wake of a disastrous LDP performance next month? A commentator ("AC") on …
Month: June 2007
Bland, blander, blandest
CFR has compiled a brief rundown of where the presidential candidates from both parties stand on North Korea.There are few positions that stand out: for the most part Democrats repeat the charge from 2004 that President Bush is to blame for refusing to engage directly with North Korea in bilateral talks, Republicans generally holding back …
Reading the proverbial tea leaves
In light of the new Asahi poll showing that the DPJ has expanded its lead in the proportional representation races for the Upper House, 29% to 23%, it is interesting to consider Shisaku's discussion of whether a Lower House election is also possible this year.Now, I don't disagree with his conclusion: "damnably unlikely." With its …
Ending US Navy dominance?
So suggests the headline on an FT article (subscription only) by Mure Dickie and Stephen Fidler on Chinese naval modernization that is actually more considered than the headline would suggest.Acknowledging that China is "a big beneficiary of the “Pax Americana” enforced by the US Navy that keeps its sea lanes open," the article seeks to …
Abe reverts
I have previously discussed how the Abe Cabinet has reverted to form in the cabinet's relationship with the LDP; I have also discussed how Abe has essentially put his predecessor's structural reform ideas on hold.Asahi picked up this narrative on Sunday, in an editorial on the government's recently issued fiscal policy draft proposal, asking whether …
Japan’s values void
Harold James, a remarkably erudite historian at Princeton and author of The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression, has a piece at Project Syndicate entitled "The Return of 'Asian' Values," in which he discusses Fujiwara Masahiko's The Dignity of the State (previously discussed here).While James raises interesting questions about the foundations of capitalism, …
And now for something completely different
For a change of pace this weekend, here are some articles that caught my eye that have little or nothing to do with Japanese politics:"Transcitizens of the world unite," FT, John Sutherland: Sutherland writes about the experience of living a good portion of one's time in a country other than that of one's birth, upbringing, …
Free fall
If there were any lingering doubts about the drop in the Abe Cabinet's popularity, the latest Yomiuri poll should dispel those — Yomiuri found that the government's popularity fell to 32.9%, and its unfavorable rating rose to 53.7%.It also confirmed the Asahi's finding that the LDP and DPJ are running even in electoral districts, and …
Not a thing to say?
Following yesterday's sharp discrepancies between Asahi and Yomiuri in coverage of alleged GSDF spying on Japanese anti-war activists, it is interesting to see how both have stuck (or not) with this story.In Asahi, there were two brief articles, one regarding JCP Chairman Shii Kazuo's response to Defense Minister Kyuma's reaction to the report, the other …
Stirrings in Heiligendamm
Prime Minister Abe and President Putin met on Thursday evening (Friday morning, Japan time) as planned and discussed what seems like every outstanding issue in Russo-Japanese relations: fishing rights, the Northern Territories, the development of Siberia's energy resources, and a Russo-Japanese peace treaty.Few conclusions, however, were reached, and it seems that there will be no …
Tobias S. Harris 