The Hoover Institution has published a set of photographs discovered in 1945 by Robert Capp, an American serving in the US occupation force. The photos, taken by an unknown Japanese photographer, show the remains of victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. As Wenran Jiang, professor of political science at the University of Alberta noted at …
Year: 2008
Japan just as invisible as always
MOFA has released its latest Gallup-conducted poll of American public and elite attitudes concerning Japan. (English summary here; more detailed Japanese documents available for download here.)Gallup conducted a telephone poll of 1500 Americans over age 18 in February and March of 2008, and telephone interviews with 250 "opinion leaders" in "the fields of government, business, …
Guam makes The Colbert Report
Stephen Colbert interviewed Madeleine Bordallo, Guam's congresswoman, Wednesday evening. Unfortunately Congresswoman Bordallo didn't get a chance to answer the question about Japanese tourists.http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml
So much for the LDP’s popularity
In recent weeks, some LDP leaders, hinting that the party might be willing to consider calling a general election sometime before September 2009, pointed to the party's ratings in public opinion polls. Polls have consistently shown the LDP polling higher than the DPJ, even as Prime Minister Fukuda's popularity has tanked. On this point, I …
The government’s administrative reform bill is dying on the vine
Nearly a month has passed since the government submitted its administrative reform bill to the Diet, and Mainichi reports that the bill's prospects are no better now than they were when the bill was submitted. Indeed, they are considerably worse.With six weeks until the end of the Diet session — unless Mr. Fukuda does like …
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The DPJ botches the endgame again
After holding the line against the government — forcing it to use its supermajority to override the HC — in both the special session of the Diet (the MSDF refueling mission) and the current regular session (the temporary tax), the DPJ has been unable to find the right way to respond to the government's use …
The campaign comes to Guam
This weekend, the US presidential campaign comes to Guam, the island territory closer to Japan than the continental US that will soon be home to a vastly expanded US military presence, if all goes according to plan.Guam will be holding a Democratic caucus, and with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton struggling for every delegate, the …
A pyrrhic victory
Japan's "temporary" gasoline surcharge holiday is over, just as the Japanese people set off on their Golden Week holidays.The government will use its HR supermajority to reinstate the temporary tax Wednesday, ensuring that the surcharge is in place for the start of the new month.The opposition parties have, of course, strongly criticized the government's decision …
The DPJ’s way forward should not include Hiranuma
Convinced that a major electoral breakthrough is at hand following Hiraoka Hideo's impressive victory in Yamaguchi-2 Sunday, the DPJ leadership (a.ka., Ozawa Ichiro) has decided that it will continue to try to force the government to dissolve the HR and call a general election.To that end, Mr. Ozawa indicated yesterday that the DPJ will push …
Continue reading The DPJ’s way forward should not include Hiranuma
To DC readers
I will be in Washington, DC from Thursday to Friday this week, and would be interested in meeting with readers either individually or in a group over coffee.Send an email to Observingjapan@gmail.com if interested.
Tobias S. Harris 