At the OPEC APEC summit in Sydney, the leaders of APEC's twenty-one member states have been holding bilateral talks in the run-up to the final summit this weekend. I don't put much stock in APEC as an organization that will be able to deliver concrete results — it's simply too big and too diverse — …
Category: Observing Japan Blog
Why has the debate on the anti-terror special measures law problem not deepened?
That's the question asked by Amaki Naoto in a post that wonders why the DPJ has not responded to the arguments made by Kurt Campbell, Michael Green, and others about the nature of the mission in Afghanistan.Amaki, of course, is convinced that it is all a US war, and thus the DPJ should make the …
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A new 1955 system?
With Typhoon Fitow bearing down on the Kanto plain, I have decided to take shelter from the storm for the evening, and so there's no better time to step back and ponder the evolution of the Japanese party system.In the aftermath of the Upper House election, there was some talk of a political realignment as …
The government considers all options
With the special session of the Diet due to start on September 10th, the Abe government is beginning to outline its options for the renewal of the anti-terror special measures law in the face of unyielding (thus far) DPJ opposition.The government evidently recognizes that it is facing an nearly impossible window in which to pass …
False alarm (for now)
Not surprisingly, Chris Hill has dismissed claims that the US agreed to remove North Korea from the State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list, at least not before North Korea makes significant progress towards denuclearization.Perhaps the news media should, you know, actually check with the other party in the talks before reporting the claims of …
Can’t go home again
In an essay in the forthcoming issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review that I co-authored with Doug Turner, we discuss that the challenge for the LDP going forward is reconfiguring the party's identity for the post-Koizumi era. Reform or reaction? Urban or rural? These are the questions that the party has to answer.And yet …
That area east of Iraq
President Bush, after an unannounced layover in Baghdad, has arrived in Sydney for the APEC summit.The Washington Post's article on the trip (inadvertently?) identifies the problem with Asia policy in the waning years of the Bush administration. The headline reads, "Bush Arrives in Australia for Summit," but the body copy proceeds to focus entirely on …
Abe, Japan alone
MTC provides a good roundup of the political environment following the resignation of Mr. Endo, the third MAFF minister to leave office since Prime Minister Abe's inauguration.He notes that both Mainichi and Nikkei are reporting that Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosano is more or less in charge of the government — although their Beatles reference of …
Does the CCP still hold the gun?
The FT has reported on a significant break-in to Pentagon systems in June, with a recent DoD investigation finding that the incursion most likely originated from China's People's Liberation Army. This follows recent reports of break-ins to German government systems.The Chinese defense ministry said nothing; the foreign ministry, meanwhile, said, "We have explicit laws and …
North Korea to be removed from terror list?
The BBC is reporting that North Korea has announced that in exchange for its accounting for all of its nuclear activities and disabling its nuclear facilities, the US will remove North Korea from the list of terror-supporting nations and lift related sanctions.Given that the story originated with the DPRK foreign ministry — and that no …
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Tobias S. Harris 