In the midst of Mr. Abe's resignation, Mainichi reports that Shukan Gendai has been investigating reports of tax evasion by Mr. Abe, who allegedly transferred his 2.5 billion yen inheritance from his father to his political organization without paying taxes.While there are plenty of reasons for Mr. Abe's departure, it would be fitting if the …
Tag: Abe Shinzo
Abe’s resignation — first thoughts
It's official. After less than a year in office, Mr. Abe has announced his resignation.Evidently his decision came as a surprise to the LDP leadership.In his statement, available here from Asahi, Mr. Abe emphasized that his resignation is a way to break the deadlocked situation in Japanese politics, especially concerning the anti-terror law. He hopes …
Abe’s end?
1:18pm — Asahi reports that Mr. Abe has indeed delivered his desire to resign to the LDP executive. Press conference to come at 2pm.One of my correspondents — and now MTC, by way of Kyodo — has informed me that Mr. Abe has offered his resignation.
The DPJ in Yoshida country
With the DPJ making the anti-terror special measures law the main point of contention for the autumn special session, it seems increasingly clear that the DPJ has found a solution to the problem of how to distinguish itself from the LDP. The DPJ's positions on social and economic policy not being all that different from …
Ready or not…
The special session of the Diet is officially opened.Prime Minister Abe, opening the session today, claims to have reflected deeply upon the results of the July's Upper House elections and recognizes that there are many who wish to see him gone, but for all that humility, it's entirely unclear whether he has actually learned anything. …
Mr. Abe’s exit strategy?
The Sydney APEC summit has come and gone — with, to my surprise, only one appearance by the cast of The Chaser (I definitely recommend subscribing to the podcast of their show).On the sidelines of the summit this weekend, President Bush and Prime Ministers Howard and Abe held their meetings. Not surprisingly, Mr. Bush reminded …
False alarm (for now)
Not surprisingly, Chris Hill has dismissed claims that the US agreed to remove North Korea from the State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list, at least not before North Korea makes significant progress towards denuclearization.Perhaps the news media should, you know, actually check with the other party in the talks before reporting the claims of …
Can’t go home again
In an essay in the forthcoming issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review that I co-authored with Doug Turner, we discuss that the challenge for the LDP going forward is reconfiguring the party's identity for the post-Koizumi era. Reform or reaction? Urban or rural? These are the questions that the party has to answer.And yet …
Abe, Japan alone
MTC provides a good roundup of the political environment following the resignation of Mr. Endo, the third MAFF minister to leave office since Prime Minister Abe's inauguration.He notes that both Mainichi and Nikkei are reporting that Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosano is more or less in charge of the government — although their Beatles reference of …
Bush talks sense on China
This week is the 2007 APEC summit in Sydney, and in advance of the week-long summitry, President Bush has been talking Asia — and saying the right things.In a round table discussion with foreign journalists (hat tip: The Swamp), Mr. Bush spoke of the "complex relationship" between the US and China, but also noted, "...I …
Tobias S. Harris 