As planned, the House of Councillors passed a non-binding censure motion against the Fukuda government this evening.It should be noted that the upper house passed twelve bills — including four government bills — on Tuesday, bypassing normal deliberation to clear the agenda for the censure motion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the DPJ …
Year: 2008
What’s normal?
William Gibson (previously discussed here) gave an interview to the science fiction site io9 recently in which he discussed the politics of his latest book, Spook Country.One comment in particular caught my eye. Asked about Canada, his adopted home since fleeing the US to escape the draft, he said:Canada is set up to run on …
Guam, Okinawa, and the fate of realignment
The Joint Guam Program Office, the US Department of Defense office responsible for drawing up plans for the expansion of US military facilities on Guam to accommodate the forthcoming influx of US military personnel, has a new website.For a look at the scale of the on-base construction project — the project to which the Japanese …
To Kansai readers
I will be in Osaka this weekend. Please send an email to Observingjapan@gmail.com if you are interesting in meeting up.
Fukuda the unflappable
The DPJ has decided that it will submit a censure motion against the government on Wednesday, as planned. The LDP and Komeito agreed Tuesday that it will extend the Diet session by six days to 21 June to ensure the automatic passage of the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with ASEAN (the one-month period during which …
What if the Australian prime minister came and nobody noticed?
Is there a news blackout on Prime Minister Rudd's visit to Japan?He made a speech on climate change in Kyoto and visited Hiroshima on Monday, and neither Yomiuri nor Asahi have articles online about his activities.It's possible that they have articles in the print edition that aren't online, but if that's the case, why did …
Continue reading What if the Australian prime minister came and nobody noticed?
Rudd’s vision
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, arriving in Japan Sunday for a four-day visit, delivered a foreign policy address on Wednesday of last week that has sparked a major debate in Australia about the future of Asian multilateralism.In the speech, Mr. Rudd laid out his vision for an Asia-centered Australian foreign policy that sounds remarkably like …
Fukuda the survivor
With the regular Diet session entering its final week (or penultimate week), it's possible that Prime Minister Fukuda may emerge from the session stronger than seemed possible.His bolstered stature has less to do with personal victories — the pork-and-patronage members of the LDP are no less angry with his leadership than before, and he still …
Here comes a censure motion
The power to pass a non-binding censure motion in the upper house has been burning a hole in the DPJ's pocket since the moment it took control of the House of Councillors, and it looks like the DPJ will finally make good on its threat to use it against the Fukuda government.For those keeping score …
Prisoners of war
Lester Tenney, commander of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, a veterans organization, who spent most of the war as a prisoner of war in Japan working in a Mitsui mine, spoke yesterday at a hall in the shadow of the Japanese Diet.Mr. Tenney is currently visiting Tokyo, hoping to raise awareness of what …
Tobias S. Harris 