June is approaching, and that means we're one month closer to the expiration of the anti-terror special measures law passed in January via Article 59.Both parties are stepping up their preparations for the fight over a new bill that will likely occur in the autumn special session.When the Fukuda government agreed to Komeito's demand to …
Year: 2008
Forging a Fukuda consensus
Following his first salvo in the creation of a new Fukuda Doctrine, Sankei reports that Prime Minister Fukuda is preparing to launch the next salvo, which will be aimed at remaking Japan's foreign and defense policymaking process, namely by intensifying the Kantei's leadership in foreign policy.Mr. Fukuda's approach is markedly different from Abe Shinzo's, the …
The new Fukuda doctrine
On Thursday of last week, Prime Minister Fukuda gave a keynote foreign policy address at the fourteenth annual International Conference on the Future of Asia, hosted by Nikkei in Tokyo.Not for the first time Mr. Fukuda gave me reason to lament his political troubles at home, as he gave a speech that was stunning in …
Looking to 2014
The future of the US-Japan alliance increasingly rests on Guam, a 209 square-mile island 1500 miles from Tokyo. The intricately arranged realignment process that envisions the relocation of roughly 8,000 Marines (and their dependents) from Okinawa to Guam by 2014 depends on both governments funding and executing major construction projects in Okinawa and Guam in …
Alliance cooperation
The HMCS Toronto, in New York for Fleet Week 2008, seen from my window this morning:
The LDP and DPJ cooperate on space
The House of Councillors has, as expected, passed a new space basic law on the back of cooperation between the LDP, Komeito, and the DPJ.As noted previously, the law ends the 1969 ban on the use of space for military purposes, permitting the government to deploy high-resolution spy satellites. The law also calls for the …
Summer in Japan
I will be in Japan again as of next week, this time for longer. I'll be staying the summer, writing (possibly working on a book) and perhaps giving talks in the Tokyo area.Stay tuned.
Schieffer bemoans Japan’s (lack of) defense spending
On Tuesday, J. Thomas Schieffer, US ambassador to Japan, spoke at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, where he called on Japan to spend more on defense.Judging from the coverage in the foreign and domestic press, it appears that the ambassador spoke bluntly, declaring, "I think the Japanese are getting a bargain in the (US-Japan) …
Continue reading Schieffer bemoans Japan’s (lack of) defense spending
The post-Fukuda landscape remains open — for now
Aso Taro, who has presumably been vying for the LDP presidency since losing it to Fukuda Yasuo in September 2007, was asked about his intentions at a speech on Monday. Like his potential rival, Yosano Kaoru, Mr. Aso demurred, declining to declare what has been openly acknowledged for months.I suppose it would be inappropriate for …
Continue reading The post-Fukuda landscape remains open — for now
Nakagawa sees an end to the Fukuda slide
Break out the champagne! The prime minister's slide has stopped!So declares Nakagawa Hidenao, in response to a Hodo 2001 poll that showed Mr. Fukuda's approval rating rise four points to 24.2% and his disapproval rating fall two points to 70%.A net six-point shift in a single poll (which is limited to 500 people in the …
Tobias S. Harris 