The South Kanto regional block, comprised of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Yamanashi prefectures, sends thirty-four representatives to the Diet from single-member districts and another twenty-two through proportional representation. Yamanashi, with only three electoral districts, is an unusual fit alongside Kanagawa with its eighteen districts and Chiba with its thirteen. This block is densely urban: Kanagawa has …
Tag: 2009 general election
"The DPJ that does not do any pork-barrel spending"
Watanabe Yoshimi and Asao Keiichiro, who, along with Eda Kenji are the three "partners" at the head of the Minna no to (Your Party), gave a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan this afternoon to explain their purposes to the foreign press.The value of the talk was in providing information about how …
Continue reading "The DPJ that does not do any pork-barrel spending"
This Hatoyama’s for turning?
As the campaign has progressed, the DPJ has shown that it is willing to be flexible as far as its manifesto is concerned. While it has taken the work of building a manifesto that is the result of a consensus within the party — and which a DPJ government will give due consideration when formulating …
North Kanto, a conservative kingdom
For an explanation of my purpose in making this guide, see here. For previous installments, see here and here.North Kanto is comprised of four prefectures to the north of Tokyo: Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Saitama. These prefectures have a total of thirty-two single-member districts, and the block has twenty proportional representation seats. Saitama is by …
Another Koizumi child leaves the LDP
As expected, despite their tenuous position in the party (and their bleak electoral prospects), the LDP has not seen young reformists rush to exit the party and sign on with Watanabe Yoshimi's Your Party.Only a small number has left, one by one, and with only a week until the campaign officially begins, presumably not many …
The DPJ holds strong in polls
With eight days until the campaign officially begins, the DPJ continues to hold a commanding position in public opinion polls.A recent Sankei/FNN poll found that the DPJ's approval rating as a party increased three points to 31%, compared with the LDP's 22%, the DPJ is the party of choice in PR voting for 44.6% of …
Nakagawa Shoichi in trouble
As a follow-up to Saturday's review of the races in Hokkaido, this story from Hokkaido should be of interest.Nakagawa Shoichi, the former finance minister who I suggested faces an uphill battle for reelection in Hokkaido's eleventh district, went before a meeting of his koenkai to declare that from henceforth he will abstain from alcohol (cold …
On Radio Australia
I appeared in a long segment on the general election on Radio Australia's Connect Asia program. Have a listen here.
Tohoku, Ozawa’s backyard
The Tohoku regional block is comprised of Aomori, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima — and Iwate, Ozawa Ichiro's "fiefdom." These six prefectures combine to elect thirty-nine Diet members, twenty-five from single-member districts and fourteen from proportional representation. In 2005, the LDP won seventeen of twenty-five SMDs, with the DPJ taking seven and an independent winning the …
2009 general election open thread
With eight days until the campaign officially begins, feel free to post things seen and heard around Japan.
Tobias S. Harris 