Yamaoka Kenji and Ooshima Tadamori, the DPJ and LDP Diet strategy chairman respectively, met on Tuesday to discuss Nakatani Gen's absurd smear of opponents of the refueling mission as "terrorists."Mr. Yamaoka reportedly demanded that Mr. Nakatani be removed from his post as director of the House of Representatives special anti-terrorism committee.Mr. Ooshima's response was, I …
Tag: DPJ
Thrust and parry on Afghanistan
Prime Minister Fukuda and members of his cabinet were grilled in Upper House Budget Committee deliberations on Monday, and continued their defense of Japan's participation in coalition activities in the Indian Ocean on grounds of Japan's obligations to the international community as the second largest economic power.The sparring in the Upper House this week comes …
Nakatani gives a gift, but to whom?
On Fuji Television on Sunday, Nakatani Gen, a former head of the (then) Japan Defense Agency (JDA), borrowed from George W. Bush and said, "Those who are opposed to this [the MSDF refueling mission] are nothing but terrorists." (Of course, not having watched the program, I'm forced to rely on newspaper accounts, such as this …
Is Japan on the brink of a new foreign policy debate?
With another week of budget committee deliberations and thus another week before the Fukuda Cabinet officially decides to proceed with a new bill authorizing the MSDF refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, Mainichi reports that the government is striving to build upon the public support it has already gained, as shown in numerous public opinion …
Continue reading Is Japan on the brink of a new foreign policy debate?
Damn the DPJ, full speed ahead!
The Fukuda Cabinet has announced a schedule for the passage of a new law enabling the MSDF's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. A final cabinet decision will be made on October 17th, following the conclusion of deliberations in the Upper House Budget committee, and the new bill will be introduced for deliberation to the …
How long can Ozawa last?
The tide has definitively turned against Mr. Ozawa, the surest sign being that the media is carrying reports about allegations of fiscal malfeasance by his support groups, once again involving the use of campaign funds for real estate. And so Mr. Ozawa is the target of newspaper editorials demanding that he provided a detailed account …
Locking horns in the Budget Committee
On Tuesday the Budget Committee of the Lower House of the Diet convened; the Budget Committee, of course, is the main stage for clashes between government and opposition, and will provide Mr. Fukuda with plenty of time to elaborate on his policy plans, if he indeed has any.While there are a host of economic issues …
Is a snap election within the next seven months likely?
Publicly, Mr. Ozawa and the DPJ leadership remain determined to push for a general election. At a meeting of prefectural chapter heads last week, Mr. Ozawa spoke of intensifying the party's preparations for a general election and outlined the DPJ's four principles for a general election campaign: (1) not standing candidates in all 300 electoral …
Continue reading Is a snap election within the next seven months likely?
Catch-22 for the DPJ
Jun Okumura comments on an Asahi article — available here — that discusses former Prime Minister Koizumi's speech to a meeting of the Machimura faction, in which he described the DPJ as being akin to the LDP anti-mainstream. Now, this might strike some as a strange, but it's actually an apt description for the current …
Komeito’s emerging role?
With the special session of the Diet session now in full swing, both the LDP and the DPJ are learning how to function in an unprecedented political environment. Barring the government's somehow folding and calling an early election — essentially giving up its Lower House supermajority, its one trump card — both parties will have …
Tobias S. Harris 