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 …
Category: Observing Japan Blog
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 …
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Amano’s election deepens Japan’s nuclear paradox
After a long stalemate to choose a successor for outgoing director-general Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA's board of governors elected Japanese diplomat Amano Yukiya to the position by a single vote over the requisite two-thirds majority.The prolonged dispute was the result of a split between developed and developing countries, the latter of which preferred South African …
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Japan politics blogger party, the sequel
Following our successful nomikai in January of this year, some of us politics bloggers have decided to hold another party to give our readers an opportunity to ply us with drinks to put faces to blogs.Once again we will be gathering at The Pink Cow in Shibuya, at 7pm on Saturday July 25th.If you are …
Tobias S. Harris 