On Friday, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō headed off (jp) to the mountains in Yamanashi prefecture for an eleven-day summer holiday. He leaves behind a growing debate in Tokyo about the wisdom of proceeding as planned with the consumption tax hike scheduled to be phased in from 2014-2015 (5% to 8% in April 2014, 8% to 10% …
Tag: Bank of Japan
All’s well that ends well; or, much ado about nothing?
As expected, the DPJ-led House of Councillors approved the nomination of Shirakawa Masaaki, the acting governor of the Bank of Japan, to serve as the full-fledged governor, thus ending Japan's three-week nightmare with only an acting governor at the helm of the BOJ. Mr. Shirakawa will make his debut on the international stage later this …
Continue reading All’s well that ends well; or, much ado about nothing?
Without a clue
LDP proposes, DPJ disposes — again.As MTC points out, the LDP did the exact same thing in introducing the nomination of Tanami Koji as it did with the nomination of Muto Toshiro: it failed to consult with the DPJ beforehand.Indeed, showing that it has learned absolutely nothing and suggesting that the government is in fact …
The looming empty chair "crisis"
Following the government's formal nomination of Muto Toshiro for the post of BOJ president on Friday, the LDP launched a war of words over the weekend to paint the DPJ as irresponsible and pressure it to accept Mr. Muto to prevent a vacancy at the BOJ.On Saturday, Tanigaki Sadakazu, LDP policy chief and former finance …
The LDP acts to shift the blame
In a transparent attempt to shift the blame for the Bank of Japan "crisis" from the government to the DPJ, today the Fukuda Cabinet officially submitted its nomination of Muto Toshiro to be the next BOJ president. If a Mr. Muto or another candidate is not confirmed within the next twelve days, the post will …
The DPJ keeps pushing
With the Fukuda cabinet's popularity in free fall thanks to the fallout from the Atago incident, the DPJ's stance on the government's nomination of Muto Toshiro to be the next BOJ president has become decidedly less ambiguous. The DPJ has indicated that there is no chance of its consenting to Mr. Muto's nomination.In response, Ibuki …
Peace in our time (well, not really)
The LDP and the DPJ have come to an agreement on the process for approving candidates for positions that require HR-HC consensus. The terms of the agreement, the result of negotiations between the two parties' Kokutai chairmen, calls for separate hearings for candidates in the HR Committee on Rules and Administration and the HC Committee …
More trouble on the BOJ succession
In a meeting between Oshima Tadamori and Yamaoka Kenji, the Diet strategy chairmen of the LDP and DPJ respectively, the two parties came closer to an agreement on joint personnel decisions. They discussed a proposal that envisions an "expanded representatives committee" of twenty from both houses that will question government-nominated candidates about their policy positions …
The DPJ continues playing hard to get
As I wrote on Monday, the DPJ may ultimately come around to Muto Toshiro, the government's candidate for the presidency of the Bank of Japan, but it will not give in to pressure — and it will make its decision on the nomination on its own terms and at its own pace.It increasingly looks like …
The headline says yes, but the body says not yet
The FT's David Pilling reports that the DPJ will accept the government's nomination of Muto Toshiro, currently the BOJ's deputy governor, to serve as Fukui Toshihiko's successor as BOJ governor.At least that's what one might think from the headline: "Japanese opposition to accept new bank chief."The body of the article, however, indicates that while the …
Continue reading The headline says yes, but the body says not yet
Tobias S. Harris 