With political Japan in vacation mode, the decision by the DPJ leadership to oppose extension of the anti-terrorism special measures law continues to cast a shadow over the alliance. Defense Minister Koike's visit to Washington seems to have done little to ease American fears — her speech at CSIS, available online here, seems to contain …
Tag: DPJ
The DPJ’s first tactical mistake?
The debate over the extension of the anti-terror special measures law is quickly becoming the defining issue of the post-election political environment, with each party struggling to stand fast and embarrass the other side — with Washington watching closely for signs of whether Japan's commitment to the alliance is withering, and wondering whether the DPJ …
Watching the fault lines
When looking at the post-election political landscape, observers have turned to the Democratic Party of Japan and asked whether it has the durability to press its advantage following the election and push for a quick dissolution and general election. After all, one need not look all that far back for signs of division within the …
Bigger than the alliance
As noted in this post, much of the discussion surrounding the DPJ leadership's decision to oppose the extension of the anti-terrorism special measures law before it expires in November has focused on the impact on the US-Japan alliance of Japan's effective departure from coalition activities in and around Afghanistan.The debate has hinged in part on …
Who’s the adult here?
One trope that has emerged in the days since the election has been talk of "adult politics" in terms of how the DPJ will conduct itself as the Upper House's largest party. The fact that it is even necessary for the DPJ to promise that it will act "grown up" is a sign of just …
The Upper House elections and Japanese security policy
Of all the factors that went into the LDP's historic loss on Sunday, it is safe to assume that the security policy pursued under the Koizumi and Abe cabinets — an emphasis on the alliance with the US that has seen the JSDF deployed to the Indian Ocean and Iraq, albeit in non-combat roles — …
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The emerging contours of post-7/29 politics
I am back from the lunchtime session with Professor Curtis, who gave a thorough and pessimistic account of the era in Japanese politics coming into being.I do not think it inappropriate to speak of a new era in Japanese politics; Professor Curtis is certainly convinced that Sunday's catastrophic electoral defeat for the LDP marks the …
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The morning after
The final breakdown: DPJ 60, LDP 37, Komeito 9, Independents 7, JCP 3, SDPJ 2, PNP 2, NPJ 1.That gives the opposition parties 137 seats to the government's 105, with the DPJ becoming the largest party with 109 seats, more than the government parties combined. With the thirty-two-seat differential between opposition and government parties, there …
The results are in…
UPDATE, 1:04am — The final five PR seats have yet to be assigned, but regardless of which party gets them, the impact of this election is hard to understate. The polls leading up to the election were correct: the LDP was abandoned by voters across the country. Urban voters, rural voters, all opted to oppose …
Desperate to the end
The last day of campaigning is done, and tomorrow, Sunday, the voters will decide whether to punish the LDP and Komeito for the Abe cabinet's corruption, lapses, and policy failures and hand control of the Upper House of the Diet to the DPJ and other opposition parties.(Find my predictions for the critical single-seat district campaigns …
Tobias S. Harris 