Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor of The Times and author of several very good books in his own right, reviewed The Iconoclast on 5 September. The coronavirus pandemic has done for Japan’s modest economic recovery and doomed the Tokyo Olympics that were to have been his moment of political rapture. However, Abe’s failures go back further and …
Category: Media
The Economist reviews THE ICONOCLAST
In its 3 September 2020 issue, The Economist published a review of The Iconoclast. Abe Shinzo was just five years old in 1960 when protesters surrounded his grandfather’s house in Tokyo. Kishi Nobusuke, then Japan’s prime minister, was in the midst of a pitched battle over Japan’s security treaty with America. Kishi would get his …
“Shinzo Abe the globalist”
In an essay for the Nikkei Asian Review, I argued that one of Abe's most important legacies is as Japan's most "globalist" prime minister ever.Some highlights: Abe was repeatedly willing to spend political capital on policies that opened Japan to international trade and capital. Over his nearly eight years in power, he first overcame resistance …
Interview on Intelligence Squared
Before Abe announced his resignation on Friday, I was interviewed for Intelligence Squared's podcast about The Iconoclast. For the most part, the interview addressed the main arguments of the book and Abe's legacy. You can listen below. Show notes are available here.
Abe resigns! (links)
While I was prepared for the possibility that Abe could resign after he visited the hospital twice in eight days, the rumor mill had swung away from talk of resignation mid-week. When I went to sleep Thursday night, I planned on waking up to watch his press conference that would start at 4:00am EDT but …
Interview on Monocle24 Radio’s “The Foreign Desk”
I recently spoke with Andrew Mueller of Monocle24 Radio's "The Foreign Desk" program for an episode that aired on 25 July 2020 focused on Abe Shinzō and his legacy. Mueller had read an advanced version of The Iconoclast and his questions gave me an opportunity to discuss some of my main arguments. It works well …
Continue reading Interview on Monocle24 Radio’s “The Foreign Desk”
Recent comments on Covid-19
For the past two months, my analytical coverage for Teneo Intelligence has been exclusively focused on the Covid-19 outbreak in Japan and the Koreas. Comments, often drawn from my research notes, have appeared in the following news articles: Motoko Rich and Ben Dooley, "What to Call 2021 Olympics? Just One of Many Challenges for Japan," …
Upper House elections commentary
I was quoted in several articles on Japan's 21 July 2019 upper house elections: Sophie Jackman and Isabel Reynolds, "Japan's Abe Falls Short of Supermajority in Election Win," Bloomberg, 21 July 2019AFP, "Japan's Abe keeps upper house grip but no 'supermajority'"Grace Shao, "After elections, Japan’s leader Abe will be seeking a big win on trade," …
On Japan-China relations in the SCMP
I was quoted extensively in an article by Karen Yeung in the South China Morning Post. However, if Japan begins to cooperate with the initiative and is able to influence the quality of investments and reduce funding risks, China could potentially allay such criticism, according to Tobias Harris, senior vice-president at global CEO consulting and …
“Japan’s post-populist democracy”
I wrote an essay on the meaning of Japan's 21 July House of Councillors elections for East Asia Forum. You can read it here.
Tobias S. Harris 