As the Diet session winds down — and the Upper House elections loom — the Upper House has passed a bill approving Japan's commitment to executing the 2006 agreement on the realignment of US forces in Japan.Mainichi reports that the bill was opposed by all opposition parties, meaning that the bill passed by the relatively …
Year: 2007
UN tells Japan to tend its own garden
That's the message one could conclude from criticism of Japan by the UN Committee Against Torture, calling attention to Japan's justice and prison system, and even criticized Japan for dismissing comfort women cases on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.As the FT's David Turner writes:The report comes at an embarrassing time for …
The failure of Ozawaism?
Apologies for not having posted sooner, but once again I'm out of Japan, this time back in my hometown of Chicago for business.Having stepped out of the news cycle for a day, it might be a bit before I am completely up to speed, but meanwhile I highly recommend this recent post at Shisaku on …
The revisionists ascendant
Western commentators who only intermittently pay attention to Japan seem to be befuddled by the Japanese constitution. They seem to have a hard time grasping the difficulties associated with changing it, the totemic significance it has been made to bear by both pacifists and revisionists — and thus tend to assume that revision is easy, …
Benign neglect for the alliance?
Upon further reflection, I wonder if the Asia team that the Bush administration has assembled — which I previously discussed here — for its final years in office might be a good thing for the US-Japan alliance.For too long, the alliance has been a cozy love fest. Even in rough patches, the alliance has been …
Cyber war against Estonia?
This New York Times story, "Estonia Computers Blitzed, Possibly by the Russians," strikes me as pregnant with implications that reach far beyond the Russo-Estonian dispute over the removal of a Soviet monument commemorating the "Great Patriotic War."The Times reports that Estonian officials have blamed Russia for a series of attacks on its government websites, although …
Checking premises
In questioning the Associated Press's use of the term "nationalist" to describe Prime Minister Abe, Ampontan, in this post, asks, "What is it they mean by calling Mr. Abe a 'nationalist'? And because they so frequently insist on using that term to describe him, they must think he demonstrates more of those characteristics than other …
The story that wouldn’t die
Bill Gertz, Washington Times reporter and leading proponent of the "China Threat" thesis, has published yet another item in his weekly "Inside the Ring" feature talking about how "pro-China officials" in the administration are undermining Japan's bid to purchase F-22 stealth fighters.I previously discussed here that General Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Defense Department's Defense …
The Bush administration has left the building (in Asia, anyway)
South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo reports that the Asia team for the denouement of the Bush administration is complete...Daniel Drezner could not have been more right when he said that the Bush administration is looking for "September call-ups" for its foreign policy team.Look at the roster provided by Dong-A. While some, including Dr. Paul Heer and …
Continue reading The Bush administration has left the building (in Asia, anyway)
"We would…help them"
Having previously written about the strategic and political questions surrounding China's rumored aircraft carrier program, I found this VOA article (hat tip: China Digital Times) on Admiral Keating's visit to China fascinating.VOA reports that Keating discussed the operational difficulties of deploying and maintaining aircraft carriers with Vice Admiral Wu Shengli of the PLAN — but …
Tobias S. Harris 