Commentators have had a day to digest the joint statement produced at Tuesday's SCC meeting in Washington. For an excellent review of the circumstances surrounding the meeting — including the impact of impertinent statements by Defense Minister Kyuma and Foreign Minister Aso — check out former Japanese diplomat Amaki Naoto's blog, in which he criticizes …
Tag: 2 + 2
Comfort women, not on the agenda; how about drift?
So reports Jiji regarding the meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Abe scheduled for the end of this month during Japan's Golden Week holidays.This is not altogether surprising; despite Ambassador Schieffer's voicing concerns about Abe's response to the congressional comfort women resolution (mentioned in this post), I would be shocked if the issue was …
Continue reading Comfort women, not on the agenda; how about drift?
Japan’s PR problem
Francis Fukuyama has written a brief essay called "The Trouble with Japanese Nationalism," in which he recounts his own encounters with Japanese nationalists -- including the translator of The End of History and the Last Man -- and wonders whether the US wants a normalized Japan that has yet to resolve its historical issues. (Hat …
Cheney comes and goes
The vice president has swooped in, addressed US navy personnel in Yokosuka, talked and dined with Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Aso (I wonder if Aso had anything to say about the "comfort women" resolution currently being debated in Congress), met with the parents of abductee Yokota Megumi, and is now en route to …
Japan repeats its "dissent"
Steven Clemons, Japan expert and fellow at the New America Foundation, calls attention on his blog to comments by Foreign Minister Aso reiterating Defense Minister Kyuma's criticism of the invasion of Iraq, which drew a response from the State Department (previously discussed here).It seems like a 2 + 2 meeting, between both countries' state and …
Drifting again?
Yomiuri reports today that the US and Japanese governments will likely convene a meeting of the Security Consultative Committee -- known as a 2 + 2 meeting, because it will consist of the foreign and defense ministers / secretaries of both countries -- in mid-January, following the elevation of the Japan Defense Agency (JDA) to …
Tobias S. Harris 