The Yomiuri Shimbun reports (article in Japanese) that former JDA Director-General Nukaga Fukushiro gave a talk at a Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation) symposium on North Korea's nuclear test and East Asian security. In his remarks, Mr. Nukaga asked: "If North Korea decided to use force and fired a Nodong at Japan, which American warships …
Tag: Japan
The perils of being noncommittal
As I discussed here and here, Abe Shinzo has been extremely reluctant to present anything that resembles a detailed agenda for his cabinet.During his first month, it seemed that the Japanese people were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that sooner or later he would present a detailed program that they could …
New survey on Japan’s Iraq mission
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports today on a government survey that shows that among those surveyed (around 1800 people), 71.5 per cent said they "valued" the JSDF's reconstruction operation in Iraq, with only 22.6 per cent saying that they didn't value the mission.Among those who said they valued it, as with earlier polls, they pointed to …
Japan’s (predictable) response
As I discussed here, Japan has little reason to celebrate North Korea's returning to the six-party talks.As this article in the Japan Times shows (link in English), senior cabinet and party officials have been cool to the news out of Beijing. The Japanese government, of course, was not in position to insist on the importance …
A mountain of debt, 1,400 times higher than Mt. Fuji
That would be the height of Japan's debt if converted into ￥10,000 notes, according to a Japanese Ministry of Finance (MoF) budget report cited by FT columnist Guy de Jonquières, in his column, "No need to panic about Japan's debt mountain" (sorry, subscription required).No need to panic, maybe, but certainly need for concern -- and …
Continue reading A mountain of debt, 1,400 times higher than Mt. Fuji
Abe reviews the fleet
On the 29th of October, Prime Minister Abe reviewed the Japanese fleet at Sagami Bay in Kanagawa. In this week's issue of his email magazine, Abe poetically recounts the review, speaking of clouds giving way to an autumnal blue sky, of the deep azure of the sea, and of the majesty and magnificence of the …
Tobias S. Harris 