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 …
Tag: Abe Shinzo
Courageous or foolish?
The big story in political Japan today is that the drop in the rate of support for the Abe Cabinet has continued unabated, with the Asahi poll finding that the rate of support has dipped below the rate of people actively oppose to the cabinet.What I found most interesting, however, was the Yomiuri poll (in …
What a difference a year makes
A year ago I was throwing myself into work on my M.Phil dissertation, which analyzed change in the US-Japan alliance since the end of the cold war. Those changes continued right up through the moment of submission (North Korea's missile test was the week before the deadline).The alliance seemed like it was bounding from strength …
Nagata-cho, day one
My service in Kanagawa Prefecture is at an end. I am now making the long commute -- along with most of the Tokyo metropolitan area, it seems -- to central Tokyo, to Nagata-cho, Japan's Capitol Hill.No time was wasted today, as I was very rapidly thrown into the Nagata-cho life this morning. Almost immediately upon …
Revolution from below
This article at Mainichi online, on ceremonies to commemorate Northern Territories Day, caught my eye for a couple reasons.The first is that I can't help but wonder if a push to resolve longstanding territorial disputes with Russia is driven by rising fears of abandonment in the government of Japan. Outside the alliance with the US, …
Japan’s multilateral blues
Yesterday I wrote about rising concerns that Japan will be criticized regarding the cheap yen at the G7 meeting this weekend in Germany; Japan, however, may also be running into trouble at the six-party talks due to restart this week in Beijing.This article in the FT hints at growing signs that Washington is increasingly open …
Japan walking into a trap at Essen?
The G7 is due to meet in Essen, Germany this weekend, and there are dark rumblings that Japan may be called to account for failing to allow its currency to rise as the dollar falls, which has forced the euro to appreciate to a greater extent than the yen, which has remained the weakest of …
Political Tourette’s Syndrome?
The new Diet session is more or less on hold, as the DPJ and other opposition parties have decided to boycott the Lower House's Budget Committee meetings on supplemental expenditures until Health, Labor, and Welfare Minister Yanigasawa resigns.Although Abe has apologized for his subordinate's remarks, the opposition has continued to push for resignation.And not without …
Abe ≠ Koizumi (or Reagan)
I'm going to link to this Bloomberg column by William Pesek largely without comment, because it's very much in tune with my own thinking.In short, Abe is unable to sell his policies, and has yet to articulate the specifics of how he will continue reforming the Japanese economy (a point also made by Ken Worsley …
Abe inaugurates "The First Year for Creating a Beautiful Country"
Political Japan's long holiday is over, as the 166th session of the Japanese Diet opened Thursday, with Prime Minister Abe delivering his policy address Friday.His address, available in English here and in Japanese here, confirms much of what I have already written about Prime Minister Abe. He even quoted Fukuzawa Yukichi, leading intellectual during the …
Continue reading Abe inaugurates "The First Year for Creating a Beautiful Country"
Tobias S. Harris 