The Japan Times reported today that when Vice President Cheney visited Japan in February, he asked Abe for clarification as to what constitutes progress on the abductions issue.I knew there had to be more to those meetings than Cheney simply reassuring Japan of US support.Amazing, though, that it took two months for this story to …
Tag: abduction issue
Fireworks in Hanoi?
On Wednesday, 7 March, talks in the Japan-North Korea normalization working group are set to resume in Hanoi.I'm not entirely clear on what to expect. Since the six-party agreement last month, Japan has ratcheted up the pressure on North Korea to come clean on the abductions issue -- Abe once again urged North Korea to …
Yomiuri on Sunday
A couple articles caught my eye in today's edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun, both of which appear to be unavailable online. (Articles from Sunday's paper never seem to be posted online.)The first was an interview with US Japan hand Michael Green, focused on the "comfort women" resolution, the title of which summarizes the interview fairly …
Abe on the Beeb
The BBC interviewed Prime Minister Abe (transcript here) on foreign policy. Nothing especially new here, but it offers an excellent picture of Japan's foreign policy approach in light of China's rise. Notice how Abe uses the language of international responsibility -- Japan is not only concerned about the direct threat posed by North Korea, it …
The annual foreign policy survey, pt. 1
Nikkei reports today on the results of the Japanese government's annual survey of public opinion on Japan's foreign relations. The results are not particularly surprising. Nikkei leads by reporting that the ratio of respondents (57%) who thought that Japanese-South Korean relations were bad was the highest since the survey began in 1986 -- this likely …
Tobias S. Harris 