As of this writing, the DPJ has surpassed the thirty-eight it held before the election, winning forty-two seats. It is twenty-two short of a majority, with seventy-six remaining. (Sankei is updating results here; Asahi is here.)The DPJ will become the largest party in the Tokyo assembly, and given the disparity in the early results, it …
Author: Tobias S. Harris
Tobias Harris is Japan analyst at Teneo Intelligence. He is the author of a forthcoming biography of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Uh oh
NHK reports that turnout exceeded fifty percent. I can't imagine that's good news for the government.
On the eve of destruction?
The denizens of Tokyo have started voting for representatives to the metropolitan assembly, and the LDP is already explaining away a defeat. Turnout may be up compared with 2005, which, as Jun Okumura notes, bodes ill for the LDP and Komeitō.Appearing on TV Saturday, Hosoda Hiroyuki, the LDP secretary general, said that the election will …
Who’s afraid of the conservatives?
Yamasaki Taku, perhaps the leader of the LDP's remaining doves, spoke at a Genron NPO meeting Thursday afternoon at which he addressed Murata Ryohei's revelations of the secret deal between the US and Japan that permitted the US to "introduce" nuclear weapons to Japan. (Previously discussed in this post.)"It is appropriate to approve this kind …
Observing Japan in Foreign Policy
My latest article, on the sinking ship that is Asō Tarō's LDP, is online at the Foreign Policy magazine website.You can read it here.(Alas, a mistake has been called to my attention, which I hope will be fixed soon.)
The LDP has exhausted its credit with the Japanese people
Asō Tarō and the LDP failed in the first of two electoral challenges that will precede the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the forthcoming general election.Kawakatsu Heita, the DPJ-backed candidate in the Shizuoka gubernatorial election, defeated Sakamoto Yukiko, the LDP- and Komeitō-backed candidate, on Sunday, this despite a split in the DPJ vote …
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Tokyo election open thread
I was walking in Takadanobaba this afternoon and noticed a keijiban for the Tokyo election. As I looked over the candidates, I was having trouble finding the poster for the LDP candidate, which struck me as odd. After looking carefully at the posters, I finally found him.Why was it so hard to locate the LDP …
The Tokyo election truce
The campaign for the 12 July Tokyo assembly election officially began Friday, marking the beginning of what could be the Asō government's last stand.The prime minister and his supporters are, of course, doing everything they can to dismiss the notion that Asō Tarō's fate somehow rests upon the party's performance in the Tokyo election, even …
Can the DPJ bring democracy to Japan?
My latest contribution to the Far Eastern Economic Review, co-authored with Colum Murphy, considers the possibilities of a DPJ government.It is available online here, and will be the cover article in FEER's July/August issue.
Is it possible improve Japanese political financing?
Less than two months after succeeding the tainted Ozawa Ichirō as DPJ president, Hatoyama Yukio is mired in a scandal of his own, related to the use of fake contributions to cover for illegal transfers from Hatoyama's personal funds to his political support group.Jun Okumura describes the scandal in painstaking detail here.Asō Tarō naturally singled …
Continue reading Is it possible improve Japanese political financing?
Tobias S. Harris 