By any measure, the DPJ enjoys a considerable advantage over the LDP with less than two weeks until the campaign officially begins on 18 August. It is ahead in polls, Hatoyama Yukio, its leader, is uniformly preferred to Prime Minister Aso Taro, and there is a widespread feeling that the public is disgusted enough by …
Month: August 2009
What’s in a name?
With his party's launch scheduled for 8 August, Watanabe Yoshimi has finally revealed its name.Minna no tō.Apparently the official English translation will be "Your Party." I'm not sure which is worse, the name in the original Japanese or its translation. I realize that Japanese parties have run the gamut when it comes to names, and …
Anticipated reactions
The ministry of finance, its ears filled with the ringing of revolution (or at least administrative reform), appears to be engaging in a classic case of anticipated reaction to the prospect of a DPJ government or an LDP government that could take its promise of "cutting waste" seriously. Accordingly, it has instructed requesting ministries to …
For Australian readers
I will be making an appearance on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's NewsHour program this evening, around 8pm or so Australian time.
The LDP opts for fear
With less than a month to the general election, Aso Taro and the LDP continue to face what looks like certain defeat. The DPJ continues to enjoy a sizable and solid lead in public opinion polls, the latest being an Asahi poll that showed the DPJ favored in the proportional representation race by a margin …
The LDP’s newspeak
At a poorly organized press conference at LDP headquarters Friday evening, the LDP released its manifesto for the 2009 general election.The problem with having governed a country for as long as the LDP has is that any policy proposal can be met with the question, "If this is so important, why haven't you already done …
Tobias S. Harris 