Mainichi reports that pressure within the LDP for a cabinet reshuffle is building, as Prime Minister Fukuda and his lieutenants search for ways to reverse the drastic decline in support for the government (the latest sign being a poll that shows more support for a grand coalition or a DPJ-centered coalition than for the current …
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.
Haass on allies and rivals
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, had an op-ed in the Financial Times this week (excerpted from a forthcoming article in The National Interest) in which he reconsiders the nature of US relationships with traditional allies and perceived enemies.Calling it the emergence of a "Palmerstonian moment," Haass wrote, "We are entering an …
Not your father’s (or grandfather’s) LDP?
Asahi reports that the LDP has leaped into the twenty-first century and set up a YouTube channel of its own, with Kono Taro, third-generation LDP member of the House of Representatives (and third-generation potential party leader) as the party's face on YouTube.The innovation is not in putting videos on the Internet — there has been …
Recommended Book: Securing Japan, Richard Samuels
In the aftermath of Japan's first successful test of its ballistic missile defense systems, the "Japan Rising" meme will undoubtedly be on the lips of foreign commentators. Expect more articles like the NYT article by Norimitsu Onishi discussed in this post in July.Fortunately MIT's Richard Samuels, in his latest book Securing Japan, provides a more …
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Desperate for a win
In the midst of new polls showing that support for his government is waning, Prime Minister Fukuda has announced his plans for traveling to Beijing.The prime minister will leave for China on Thursday, 27 December, meet with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on 28 December, and return to Japan on 30 December. …
Vote for me (if you’d like)
It turns out that I have been nominated in the category of "Best serious blog on Japan" in Japan Blogs of the Year voting at What Japan Thinks .This is as good an opportunity as any to thank all of you again for your comments (even and especially those that disagree with me — keep …
The pensions issue strikes again
The big news of the day is the sharp decline in the Fukuda cabinet's popularity, as found in a Kyodo poll (see articles in the Sankei Shimbun and the Tokyo Shimbun).The poll found an 11.7% drop in the cabinet's favorable rating, to 35.3%. The unfavorable rating experienced a corresponding 11% rise to 47.6%. The overwhelming …
Unease in Japan, yawns in America?
The Yomiuri Shimbun has published the results of a poll (conducted with Gallup in the US) that surveyed American and Japanese attitudes towards their respective national institutions and the US-Japanese relationship.As the article summarizing the poll reports, Yomiuri recorded a 14% (to 39%) and 15% (to 46%) drops respectively in the number of Japanese and …
Post-summit election?
In recent days, the message from the LDP's leaders has been that the government is considering calling a general election later in 2008, following the G8 summit to be held in Hokkaido in July.Nikai Toshihiro, chairman of the LDP's executive council, argued in a speech in Osaka on Saturday for a post-summit election, suggesting that …
Can the DPJ become a social democratic party?
Hokkaido University's Yamaguchi Jiro — an acknowledged supporter of the DPJ — wrote a post at his blog earlier this week in which he discussed the emergence of new axes of confrontation in the political system.Looking at political systems in other developed countries, in which "on the right, conservative parties that respect the liberty of …
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Tobias S. Harris 