After 128 days, the resignation of one prime minister, the selection of another, the aborted resignation of the leader of the largest opposition party, and the "re-passage" of a major bill in the House of Representatives over the rejection of the House of Councillors, the 2007 special session of the Diet — Japan's latest experiment …
Month: January 2008
The imperious Mr. Ozawa
I'm with MTC: the "can the DPJ govern" meme has been beaten to death.The DPJ is here and it will in all likelihood be the largest party in the HC for at least the next six years. No amount of griping about the DPJ's unsuitability will change that. Even if the "realignment" happens, the change …
"Not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be"
With the imminent rebirth of the former Kochikai, the LDP faction that until the 2001 Kato uprising was the home of the mainstream tradition in the LDP embodied in Prime Ministers Ikeda, Ohira, and Miyazawa, Tanigaki Sadakazu, LDP PARC chairman and former finance minister, has been making talking about the role the resurrected faction will …
Use of force
"Japan PM forces navy bill through" — BBC."Japan's ruling party steamrolled a new anti-terrorism law through parliament." — Morning Brief, Foreign Policy Passport."Japan's ruling coalition forced a bill through parliament today..." — LA Times (AP)"Fukuda forces through law on Japanese naval deployment" — International Herald Tribune (NYT)"Japan forces through terror law" — Financial TimesAnyone else …
Essential reading on China’s ASAT plans
Continuing with its thread of providing a more realistic assessment of China's military capabilities, Wired's Danger Room blog has published a three-part article by MIT researcher Geoffrey Forden that attempts to provide a realistic picture of the role that China's ASAT capabilities could play in a Sino-US war.Forden outlines the difficulties China would face in …
The year of the consumer
Perhaps in response to the DPJ's "consumer ombudsman" proposal — and the realization that urban support will be essential in a general election — the Fukuda government has indicated that the prime minister will announce the creation of a ministerial portfolio for consumer affairs in his policy speech opening the regular session of the Diet …
Deflating the China threat
The Danger Room's Noah Shactman points to a report by the Federation of American Scientists that notes that China's submarine fleet — a favorite bugbear of China hawks (see this report, for example) — was little more active in 2007 than it was in previous years.Without dismissing China's military modernization, reports like this are important …
The shape of the realignment to come?
Nakagawa Shoichi, former LDP Policy Affairs Research Council chairman, was recently interviewed in the Kyodo Weekly on the subject of his new study group.Not surprisingly, the "True Conservative Policy Research Group" is, according to Mr. Nakagawa, dedicated to keeping the flame of the Abe revolution alive.In explaining what true conservatism is, he said, "Japan stands …
Censure motion on hold for now
As the close of the Diet session approaches — and with it, the presumed re-passage of the new anti-terror bill in the HR — the DPJ has announced that it is reconsidering submitting an HC censure motion this session in response to the government's use of its supermajority. It will instead save this motion for …
Sarko and Abe
Glamorous romantic life aside, I find the parallels between former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and French President Nicolas Sarkozy intriguing. (I previously explored this theme in this post from last July.)The parallel came to mind once again when I read this post by Arthur Goldhammer.Commenting on a recent Sarkozy press conference, Goldhammer wrote:...The "politics of …
Tobias S. Harris 