It looks like the Ministry of Defense's civilians and the JSDF may not have to fight Defense Minister Ishiba after all.In the aftermath of the collision between the Atago, one of the MSDF's most sophisticated Aegis-equipped destroyers, and a fishing boat on Tuesday, questions have been raised about the vulnerabilities of MSDF ships to terrorist …
Tag: DPJ
Administrative reform is a wedge issue after all
In this post earlier this month, I asked whether administrative reform, the subject of a private consultative commission at the Kantei, was the ideal wedge issue for the DPJ to wield against the LDP.At the time, the DPJ had yet to elevate the issue to the top of its talking points. It appears, however, that …
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Recommended Book: Democracy Without Competition in Japan, Ethan Scheiner
"First-rate economics, third-rate politics."This phrase has long been shorthand for the LDP's half-century of nearly uninterrupted rule, despite corruption and high levels of unpopularity among the Japanese people (although of late there might be some convergence between economics and politics).Japanese and non-Japanese scholars have concocted numerous explanations for the LDP's enduring hold on power. Some …
Continue reading Recommended Book: Democracy Without Competition in Japan, Ethan Scheiner
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 …
Intimations of change
The revised bill for the special measures law on taxation, which includes the government's ten-year extension of the temporary gasoline tax, has been scheduled for interpellation in the plenary session of the House of Representatives from Tuesday, 19 February. The bill on the road construction special fund will be under discussion from Thursday, 21 February. …
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 limits of Japan’s bipartisan moment
With diminishing prospects for a general election before July and no signs of another attempt to form an LDP-DPJ grand coalition, Japanese politics appear to have entered a bipartisan phase.The most prominent symbol of this moment is the Sentaku movement, which, according to Yomiuri, may ultimately include between fifty and sixty members of the HR …
Is security policy back on the agenda?
On the same day that Foreign Minister Komura addressed the Munich Conference on Security Policy and promised that Japan, as a "peace cooperation state," would take up greater international responsibilities by participating in peacekeeping operations, Yamasaki Taku — LDP faction leader and troubleshooter — told reporters that the governing parties will form a project team …
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 