It appears that the new cabinet won't be announced until Friday evening, after my departure from Narita, so it looks like readers will have to wait until tomorrow for my thoughts on the prime minister's choices.But my thinking on the fundamental unsoundness of Fukuda Yasuo's decision to reshuffle remains unchanged. (Readers can find my thread …
Month: July 2008
On Japanese nationalisms
Robert Dujarric of Temple University Japan had an op-ed in the Japan Times Wednesday in which he argued, "Japanese society may have problems but nationalism is not one of them."He argues:Regardless of the metric used, Japan scores very low on nationalism. Its investment in its armed forces as a percentage of national income is small, …
The reshuffle is tomorrow
The prime minister has announced that he will be reshuffling his cabinet and the LDP leadership on Friday afternoon, 1 Aug, after meeting with Komeito's Ota Akihiro in the morning.Of course Mr. Fukuda had to pick the afternoon of my departure from Japan to reshuffle his cabinet.If the reshuffle is done expeditiously, I will try …
Here comes Koike and friends
With Fukuda Yasuo set to finalize a schedule for a cabinet reshuffle after consultations with Komeito — according to Machimura Nobutaka, the prime minister is waiting for reports on the latest failed Doha Round negotiations before proceeding — the cabinet reshuffle is a go, possibly as early as 4 Aug (Monday).The media has immediately shifted …
Fukuda will take the plunge
I apparently overestimated Fukuda Yasuo's strength and independence in the face of pressure from within the LDP.Yomiuri is reporting — corroborated by Asahi and NHK — that the prime minister has settled on a cabinet reshuffle in early August. Interestingly, Yomiuri's source is Komeito chief Ota Akihiro, whose party is pushing hard for an election …
Kimutaku goes to Nagata-cho
Adam Richards of Mutantfrog Travelogue fame goes after Kimura Takuya's "political" teledrama CHANGE in a piece at Néojaponisme.His point:On-air attempts at teaching viewers about the political system are facile to the point of incoherence. When explaining the ruling party committees, Keita’s staff assistant compares them to the various committees involved in planning the sports festivals …
One year later
The Abedämmerung, the LDP's historic defeat at the hands of the DPJ in the 2007 upper house election that set in motion a chain of events leading to the surprise resignation of Abe Shinzo, was one year ago today.For a look back at that most memorable night, my live blogging of the returns can be …
Fukuda passes, for now
It appears increasingly unlikely that Fukuda Yasuo will decide to reshuffle his cabinet before the autumn Diet session.NHK is reporting that at the very least there will be no decision on a reshuffle before the end of the month, as two members of the cabinet are delayed in returning from WTO talks abroad.Mr. Fukuda told …
Nakagawa’s fantasy world
For once I'm not talking about Nakagawa Shoichi.Nakagawa Hidenao, onetime LDP secretary-general under Prime Minister Abe and now the putative leader of the LDP's Koizumians, has written a series of posts at his blog over the past week, starting with one on 19 July in which he criticized the DPJ for its "former Socialist Party …
Fukuda the pressured
Watching the news this morning, I saw Fukuda Yasuo's remarks yesterday on whether he intends to reshuffle his cabinet in advance of the autumn extraordinary session of the Diet.As before, he stated that he has not made his decision yet, that he is considering the "whole situation" in regard to conditions within the LDP and …
Tobias S. Harris 