MTC has a must-read post on a New York Times editorial rebuking Aso Taro for his "pugnacious" nationalism.Mr. Aso, MTC argues, differs from his fellow conservatives in his patriotism. Aso, he writes, "is infatuated with Japan, with what it is, whatever it might become. His is not the defensive possessiveness of an insecure man. He …
Tag: beautiful country
A new era dawns?
On the brink of today's LDP election, the government dissolved the "Building a beautiful country" planning group that was to be the vanguard of Mr. Abe's campaign to leave the "postwar regime" behind. The Abe revolution is over.But what will replace it?As LDP members vote today, I think that my assessment is correct: an Aso …
Beautiful no more
Since election night, there has been a conspicuous absence from the pronouncements of the Abe government: we no longer hear Mr. Abe speaking of building a "beautiful country."Mainichi suggests that the Abe camp has been reflecting on the meaning of the slogan, despite Abe's assertion that he doesn't think the election results repudiated his "course …
A journey to the center of Mr. Abe
I mentioned earlier that I was in the process of reading Prime Minister Abe's Utsukushii Kuni e [Towards a beautiful country], the book he published in advance of last autumn's LDP presidential election and that was a popular seller after his inauguration as the Japanese people tried to figure out just who their new prime …
What does beautiful country mean anyway?
Writing about the LDP's keys to victory on Monday, I suggested that LDP candidates might benefit from Prime Minister Abe's leaving the campaign trail to go to Niigata, and that in any case one might expect to see candidates try to distance themselves from the prime minister and his deeply unpopular cabinet (and that the …
How to make Japan more beautiful with just 155 promises
The LDP has released its platform for next month's Upper House elections, 155 promises to build a beautiful country, society, livelihood, and furusato (not to mention "beautifully vigorous regions living in symbiosis with nature" [no. 52]).As the puerile overuse of the word beautiful [Ed. — At least it's not kawaii (cute); hey, kawaii kuni e …
Continue reading How to make Japan more beautiful with just 155 promises
What if they had a debate…
Prime Minister Abe and DPJ President Ozawa had their long-anticipated head-to-head debate yesterday, reportedly the longest length of time ever in a Diet session without a direct clash between party leaders.That according to a handy table provided in the print edition of the Asahi Shimbun, which indicates that the previous record was in 2002, when …
Tobias S. Harris 