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 …
Year: 2008
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 …
For the defense of Japan
After eight months of deliberations, the prime minister's defense ministry reform council, hastily convened after a series of scandals rocked the defense ministry in 2007, has released its final report on reforming the ministry.The report is available for download here.In the report, the council sought to address two issues. First, it investigated various institutional failures …
The feeling is mutual
MTC reports on comments by Koga Makoto and Suga Yoshihide, the LDP's chief and deputy election strategists regarding the possibility of a general election around the new year.MTC notes that Nikkei believes that this scheme is connected with the desire of New Komeito's leadership not to have to vote on the latest enabling law for …
Fukuda, the LDP, and Japan: all hamstrung
Fukuda Yasuo has returned from his vacation at the Prince Park Tower hotel near Shiba Park in Tokyo.His agenda is no less crowded than it was last week.In the final week of the month, Mr. Fukuda, his government, and his party will be considering the new budgetary guidelines, deliberating on when to start the autumn …
Back to blogging, for now
I have returned from my trip to western Japan (Ehime and Hiroshima prefectures).Like m'colleague at Shisaku, I climbed a mountain — Ishizuchi, which at 1982m is not nearly as impressive as MTC's hike up Kitadake. (Apparently bloggers on holiday flee to mountains.)In any case, returning to the blog after a week away is as good …
Tobias S. Harris 