Today marks the first anniversary of North Korea's presumed subterranean nuclear test, which initially prompted criticism and sanctions from the international community but has since — in some way — led to renewed attention from the US and thus the latest progress towards denuclearized North Korea.One year ago, of course, Japan was praised for its …
Category: Observing Japan Blog
Is a snap election within the next seven months likely?
Publicly, Mr. Ozawa and the DPJ leadership remain determined to push for a general election. At a meeting of prefectural chapter heads last week, Mr. Ozawa spoke of intensifying the party's preparations for a general election and outlined the DPJ's four principles for a general election campaign: (1) not standing candidates in all 300 electoral …
Continue reading Is a snap election within the next seven months likely?
The democracy question
In light of the quashing of the "Saffron Revolution" in Burma and the Japanese government's feeble response to the violence, which took the life of a Japanese citizen, it is probably safe to declare MOFA's "value oriented diplomacy" to create an "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity" dead.But with Japan's following behind Washington in backtracking on …
Apologies to my readers
I must apologize for the dearth of posts in recent days. I have, unfortunately, been busy making preparations for my imminent departure from Japan on Tuesday — my visa is set to expire next week, so it's off to New York City to finish Ph.D. applications and contemplate ways to return to Japan as soon …
Observing Japan in other media
Subscribers to the Far Eastern Economic Review can read my take on Mr. Fukuda's prospects in the October issue (online here).(And readers of FEER's dead-tree edition will be able to see my face in the table of contents.)
Catch-22 for the DPJ
Jun Okumura comments on an Asahi article — available here — that discusses former Prime Minister Koizumi's speech to a meeting of the Machimura faction, in which he described the DPJ as being akin to the LDP anti-mainstream. Now, this might strike some as a strange, but it's actually an apt description for the current …
Komeito’s emerging role?
With the special session of the Diet session now in full swing, both the LDP and the DPJ are learning how to function in an unprecedented political environment. Barring the government's somehow folding and calling an early election — essentially giving up its Lower House supermajority, its one trump card — both parties will have …
Boots for ships?
The DPJ, JCP, SDP, and Kokumin Shinto collectively informed the government on Tuesday in a meeting of Kokutai chairs that they cannot cooperate with the government on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean, due to the lack of a provision mandating prior approval from the Diet. Indeed, at a press conference on Tuesday Mr. …
The US, entrapped no longer?
The latest meeting of the six-party talks in Beijing is currently on hold, but that hasn't stopped Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's plenipotentiary in the talks, from telling the press that the US is prepared to include a concrete timeline for removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.Is Japan ready for …
The LDP readies its bill
On the heels of Mr. Fukuda's maiden speech to the Diet, the government has outlined a new bill on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean and will begin working with relevant cabinet ministers and within the governing coalition to hammer out a final draft, before appealing to the DPJ to cooperate.Perhaps, then, Jun Okumura …
Tobias S. Harris 