No, not Japan's budget cuts, because, according to this article in the IHT, the government's draft budget shows that next year's budget will increase slightly.Rather, I'm referring to this other article in the IHT, which reports that Japan's defense budget will continue to carry the burden of budget cuts. Makes you wonder why people are …
Tag: Japan
"Jimintology"
The LDP -- 自由民主党 / 自民党 (jiyuuminshuto, abbreviated as jiminto) -- was formed out of an alliance between two rival parties in 1955, and throughout its history it has been a patchwork of factions, clubs, and policy tribes (zoku) and has encompassed a broad range of ideologies. For most of its history, factions have been …
From 庁 to 省 (From agency to ministry)
Aside from the highly controversial education reform bill, the special session of the Diet now concluding -- it was extended an extra four days -- also passed a bill elevating Japan's Defense Agency from an agency subordinate to the Cabinet to a ministry with full status equivalent to other government ministries.This reform has been in …
Bush, Sr. meets Abe
Former US President George H.W. Bush visited Japan on Saturday and met with Prime Minister Abe Shinzo (and, incidentally, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Tokyo for meetings with Abe).I can't help but laugh at the symbolism of Abe meeting with George H.W. Bush, with whom I compared Abe in this post. Abe …
The government comes clean
One story that I've neglected to follow here is the ongoing scandal regarding allegations that the Abe and Koizumi governments had arranged "plants" to ask friendly questions at town hall meetings that were inaugurated in 2001. I held off on commenting because it was unclear how the 「やらせ問題」(yarase mondai, the "fake" problem) fit with the …
Matsuzaka is signed
So at the last minute, the Red Sox reached a deal with Seibu Lions pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke (or rather, Scott Boras, his agent).Total price tag, including the posting fee? $103.11 million.There's no question that Matsuzaka is a phenomenal pitcher, but then you read an article such as this from the IHT, which includes the following …
The 総理 (souri) goes slowly, and pays for it
I spoke earlier today about Abe Shinzo running into trouble with LDP members of the Upper House; now the FT reports that a number of surveys by Japanese newspapers have shown substantial drops in Abe's popularity. Even Yomiuri -- the leading conservative daily -- registered a major fall in his public support.The article notes, "Survey …
Continue reading The 総理 (souri) goes slowly, and pays for it
Abe stumbles into more trouble
Fresh off a bruising battle over the readmission of a dozen LDP postal rebels, Mr. Abe has apparently caused an uproar among the party's caucus in the Upper House of the Diet in suggesting that as the party's executive nominates candidates for the summer 2007 elections, some sitting LDP members could potentially find themselves replaced …
Japan’s comparative advantage?
Reuters has a story today on Japan's booming "elderly services" industry. As I've written before in this space -- and noted in a number of conversations -- Japan may be poised to reap an enormous economic windfall not only from its own "greying," but from the greying of the world, include its soon-to-be-considerably-older neighbor, China.As …
The annual foreign policy survey, pt. 1
Nikkei reports today on the results of the Japanese government's annual survey of public opinion on Japan's foreign relations. The results are not particularly surprising. Nikkei leads by reporting that the ratio of respondents (57%) who thought that Japanese-South Korean relations were bad was the highest since the survey began in 1986 -- this likely …
Tobias S. Harris 