(This is the second post discussing George Packard's Protest in Tokyo; see the first here.)When I last discussed Packard, I spoke about how his exploration of Japanese thinking behind the first US-Japan security treaty revealed that independence was the dominant theme in Japanese foreign policy thinking throughout the 1950s. Independence has, of course, been a …
Tag: Abe Shinzo
Are the wheels coming off?
On the same morning that Asahi reports that Abe's popularity has taken yet another blow, dropping to 30%, Yomiuri reports in an article that does not appear to be online that LDP Secretary General Nakagawa Hidenao gave a speech in Toyama in which he suggested that the "abduction problem" will become a point of contention …
Lavrov visits the Northern Territories
Interpret this as you will, but in advance of the Abe-Putin meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is touring the Kuril Islands (Northern Territories), the first visit by a Russian foreign minister since the collapse of the Soviet Union.At a press conference in Sakhalin, Lavrov claimed …
Coming full circle
Back in November, I wrote, "The policy differences between the LDP and the DPJ are too slight for the DPJ to build a campaign on anything other than personality and competence at governing."At that point, it was too early to tell just how incompetent the Abe Cabinet would be. But in the seven months since, …
Keep an eye on Russia
In recent days, Russia has announced plans to tighten sanctions on North Korea, with an emphasis on arms, spare parts, and luxury goods — this is the first concrete step Russia has taken in regard to sanctions since the aftermath of the October nuclear test.While Russia has its own reasons to be irritated with North …
Change the LDP, change Japan — now more than ever
David Pilling, the FT's Japan correspondent, indirectly responds to a point I made earlier this week when discussing Matsuoka's suicide in an op-ed entitled "No way back to old Japan" (subscription required).As the title suggests, he argues that Matsuoka's suicide actually marks the death throes of the old political system:The postwar system that is now …
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Does Abe have nothing to worry about come July?
From the English-language blogosphere's resident Abe apologist comes another post arguing that all is well in Abe's beautiful Japan.Hey, Ampontan, do you do this pro bono, or is there some kind of secret yarase blogger program run out of the Kantei? If the latter, is it too late to sign up?I think, if the price …
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The Matsuoka saga is far from over
As fallout from Matsuoka's suicide continues to spread — with an executive at J-GREEN, the MAFF agency under investigation for dispensing contracts to companies supporting Matsuoka, following Matsuoka to the grave — the probability of the Matsuoka/seiji to kane issue looming large over the Upper House elections seems to rise by the day.What was once …
Whitewashing Matsuoka
Others bloggers have provided thorough reviews of the press response to Matsuoka Toshikatsu's suicide — see Adamu's post at Mutantfrog and Matt Dioguardi's at Liberal Japan — so I will not do so here.Instead, I want to take issue with the Yomiuri Shimbun's editorial on Matsuoka's death (and by extension Abe's high praise for Matsuoka's …
"An indispensable man of talent for agriculture administration"
Prime Minister Abe has given an official response to the suicide of MAFF Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu — what Sankei Shimbun has dubbed a "shock" to Japan's political world. While all parties and players are shocked by the news, however, the uniform response seems to be that Matsuoka's suicide, coming on the heels of revelations about …
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Tobias S. Harris 