Don't you hate when journalists — especially those who make no secret of where they stand — criticize other journalists and media outlets for their biases?And yet Komori Yoshihisa has thrown down the gauntlet, charging the Asahi Shimbun with waging a political campaign against Mr. Abe and his cabinet. He hurls a litany of charges …
Tag: Abe Cabinet
No taxation without representation
Asahi published a poll today addressing the consumption tax issue, and found that 72% of respondents want it to be a point of contention in the Upper House election.This, remember, is the issue that Mr. Abe insisted, early in his cabinet, would not be discussed until autumn 2007, safely after the Upper House elections (safely …
Is the government trying to lose the election?
Facing criticism about his government's decision to postpone discussion about the consumption tax to the autumn, Prime Minister Abe has decided that instead of doing his best George H.W. Bush impersonation — "read my lips" — he has decided to be ambivalent: "I will not say that we will not raise the consumption tax rate."Meanwhile, …
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Calling out the generalissimo
The DPJ has issued another campaign flier featuring a comic strip that tells the story of how the Abe government learned of disappearing pension payments in December 2006 and covered it up until questioned by DPJ Diet members in May.Here is the last panel:This panel asks, "For what purpose is the election postponed?" In the …
Kyuma who?
In a move so blindingly obvious it hurts, Koike Yuriko, Abe's highly touted "national security adviser," has been appointed as the new defense minister.With a new boss appointed to Ichigaya within hours of Kyuma's resignation, one wonders whether they will also be airbrushing Kyuma out of pictures from the past nine months.It will be curious …
An indiscretion too far
Under pressure from his own constituents, Defense Minister Kyuma offered his resignation to Prime Minister Abe, who accepted.Asahi reports that he told reporters that his reasoning was based on fears that he would influence the Upper House elections.His tenure as Japan's last JDA director-general and the first defense minister was marked by ill-considered public remarks, …
That sinking feeling
It's a new month, the Diet session has wound down, and there is less than a month until the Upper House elections (and ten days to kouji, when candidates officially file, marking the beginning of the official campaign season).And to start the month off right, here's the result of a recent Mainichi poll showing that …
A referendum?
Prime Minister Abe, speaking on NHK on Sunday, said that next month's elections will be a referendum on his government's record in office.Let that sink in for a moment.As I've argued before, what record exactly does the government have to run on? What does the government have to be proud of that will also attract …
What grades will Abe bring home at term’s end?
So the Diet session that was due to end this week has been extended an extra twelve days.In a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Abe tried to dispel reports of dissent within the LDP on the question of extending the session — there has been a steady drumbeat of stories in the major dailies …
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Looking at the big picture
The LDP-Komeito coalition, after weeks of wrangling with the DPJ, passed its version of a law revising the Political Funds Control Law over DPJ opposition.The law stipulates that politicians' fund management organizations are to copy and provide receipts for expenditures above ¥50,000. Will it make any difference in stopping political corruption? In a word, no. …
Tobias S. Harris 