Asahi reports that the LDP has leaped into the twenty-first century and set up a YouTube channel of its own, with Kono Taro, third-generation LDP member of the House of Representatives (and third-generation potential party leader) as the party's face on YouTube.The innovation is not in putting videos on the Internet — there has been …
Tag: Japanese campaigning
Thinking about Japanese democracy
With the Upper House elections now a week away, it is worthwhile to step back and think about Japan's political system. At least that's what I did recently, reading Bradley Richardson's Japanese Democracy: Power, Coordination, and Performance — this month's recommended book.Published in 1997, Richardson's book is obviously not the place to go for analysis …
What does beautiful country mean anyway?
Writing about the LDP's keys to victory on Monday, I suggested that LDP candidates might benefit from Prime Minister Abe's leaving the campaign trail to go to Niigata, and that in any case one might expect to see candidates try to distance themselves from the prime minister and his deeply unpopular cabinet (and that the …
Is the DPJ losing steam?
The DPJ's leadership, apparently looking at the same material I've been looking at, only more so, has concluded that its previously stated aim of fifty-five seats in the July 29 Upper House elections is too high. Says Mr. Ozawa, "In conditions like these, we will not reach our target of fifty-five seats."What I find interesting …
What kind of debate does Yomiuri want exactly?
The Yomiuri has published its editorial on the official start of the Upper House election campaign, and, as has been its ken for much of the past nine months, it argues on the need for a debate on the nation's strategy in the face of new challenges.Sounds good, right?Except Yomiuri's idea of good governance in …
Continue reading What kind of debate does Yomiuri want exactly?
No one benefits from the pensions scandal?
The Asahi Shimbun published a chart today that shows public opinion regarding responses to the the pensions crisis (sadly, it does not appear to be online).Asked if they appreciated the Abe Cabinet's response to the pensions scandal, 59% of respondents said they did not appreciate it to 24% who did.That's not so surprising, but the …
Calling out the generalissimo
The DPJ has issued another campaign flier featuring a comic strip that tells the story of how the Abe government learned of disappearing pension payments in December 2006 and covered it up until questioned by DPJ Diet members in May.Here is the last panel:This panel asks, "For what purpose is the election postponed?" In the …
