From the blog of Sakurai Yoshiko, newscaster and lady of the right, comes the text of her article in the 7 July issue of Shukan Daiyamondo concerning the comfort women resolution.Hers is another contribution to the fury of Japanese ultra-nationalists that is spilled across the pages of Japan's weeklies and monthlies as the congressional resolution …
Continue reading The white-hot rage of the ultra-nationalists
North Korea has indicated that in order for the six-party talks to go forward, the US will have to remove North Korea from its list of state supporters of terrorism. That demand, of course, is aimed squarely at US-Japan cooperation on the abductions issue, because Japan is adamant that so long as North Korea fails …
Over at the Social Science Japan forum maintained by the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo — the subdued, scholarly alternative to NBR's US-Japan forum — Paul Midford of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has sparked an interesting discussion, subsequently contributed to by Ethan Scheiner of UC-Davis (and author of …
Continue reading Rural Japan, elections, and political change
Ambassador Kato Ryozo, facing the passage of the non-binding comfort women resolution by the House of Representatives, has reportedly sent a "blunt" letter to the House leadership warning about "lasting and harmful effects on the deep friendship, close trust and wide-ranging cooperation our two nations now enjoy."(The Washington Post article breaking the story does not …
Writing about the LDP's keys to victory on Monday, I suggested that LDP candidates might benefit from Prime Minister Abe's leaving the campaign trail to go to Niigata, and that in any case one might expect to see candidates try to distance themselves from the prime minister and his deeply unpopular cabinet (and that the …
The DPJ's leadership, apparently looking at the same material I've been looking at, only more so, has concluded that its previously stated aim of fifty-five seats in the July 29 Upper House elections is too high. Says Mr. Ozawa, "In conditions like these, we will not reach our target of fifty-five seats."What I find interesting …
The International Herald Tribune published a long review by Bernard-Henri Lévy of newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign book Testimony, recently translated into English.Lévy notes that one of the Sarkozy's leitmotifs is a reassessment of twentieth century French history that dwells less on moments of national disaster and tragedy, enables the French people to …
I apologize for the relative lack of posting of late. Between the election and a health problem, I have been able to devote less time than usual in providing analysis here. I will continue to post as much as possible, but I cannot promise that I will be doing so on a predictable schedule.Now back …
With less than two weeks to election day, the campaign is beginning to take shape. Allow me to play John Madden (substitute a TV sports analyst of your choice) for a moment and give you what I think are the LDP's and the DPJ's Keys to Victory.Insert flashy opening montage + brassy theme music here.For …
Over at Liberal Japan, Matt points to an article in the Yomiuri Shimbun pointing to a poll that shows DPJ support rising in both major cities and smaller cities and towns in rural areas. Based on this, he concludes — emphatically, by way of music videos — that the election is bound to be a …
Tobias S. Harris 