I have learned that Ozawa Ichiro reportedly dispatched a DPJ member to observe Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Texas in advance of Tuesday's voting.He could have saved some money and looked closer to home at the politics of former prime minister Koizumi Junichiro.There are a few obvious superficial similarities — and a few equally obvious …
Month: March 2008
The LDP acts to shift the blame
In a transparent attempt to shift the blame for the Bank of Japan "crisis" from the government to the DPJ, today the Fukuda Cabinet officially submitted its nomination of Muto Toshiro to be the next BOJ president. If a Mr. Muto or another candidate is not confirmed within the next twelve days, the post will …
Abe’s — and the LDP’s — dilemma
Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has been back in the headlines this week, first for his return to the Machimura faction, which he left when he became prime minister, second for the announcement that he will chair an LDP study group related to the implementation of his "Cool Earth 50" initiative. The latter prompted Asahi …
The Okinawa problem
At The Current, the latest addition to The Atlantic's blog empire (Hey, need a Japanese politics blog? Ed. — Riiiiight), James Gibney has a short post about the Tyrone Hadnott case and its consequences, which, not surprisingly, has sparked heated discussion in the comments section and prompted Marc Danziger at Winds of Change to cancel …
Ozawa foresees an early election
As the natural culmination of the shift in momentum that has the DPJ pressuring the government on all fronts and feeling confident enough to boycott HC deliberations to protest the government's passage of the FY 2008 budget last week, the DPJ is once again preparing for an early general election.Speaking to reporters in Hamamatsu, Ozawa …
A choice or a wash
On Monday, the Sentaku Diet members' league held its inaugural meeting, drawing 107 members from four parties. Sankei provides a handy list of members in this article.Sounding curiously similar to a political party for a nonpartisan political movement, the group announced five goals as its program: (1) detailed electoral manifestos (2) Diet reform, (3) regional …
The reinvention of Aso Taro
Speaking in Yokohama on Monday, Aso Taro, former foreign minister and LDP secretary-general, and conservative stalwart, called for an LDP-DPJ compromise on the road construction fund, emphasizing the need for mutual consent.So continues the reinvention of Mr. Aso in advance of his next bid for the LDP presidency.As I noted last month, Mr. Aso has …
More discouraging numbers for Fukuda
Following on the heels of a Mainichi poll that shows a public both increasingly opposed to the Fukuda government and its plans related to the temporary gasoline tax and the road construction plan and eager for the LDP and DPJ to compromise (discussed in this post by Jun Okumura), Asahi has released its first opinion …
Playing politics
For the second time in as many days, I have read of LDP members complaining of the DPJ's "playing politics" with matters of national import.Yesterday I mentioned that Ibuki Bunmei complained about the DPJ's introducing politics into the debate over BOJ succession.Today I read a column by Nakagawa Shoichi in which he chides the DPJ …
Hosokawa-Koizumi New Party?
Facta, a monthly, has a short item available at Yahoo! Japan's Minna no Seiji site speculating about a February meeting between former prime ministers Hosokawa and Koizumi.Mr. Hosokawa, who after heading up the first non-LDP government left politics to seclude himself in Kanagawa and work as an artist, met secretly with Mr. Koizumi in late …
Tobias S. Harris 