On Wednesday, Nakagawa Hidenao announced that the movement to move up the LDP presidential election from September — in effect a campaign for a recall election aimed at Prime Minister Asō Tarō — reached its goal of signatures from more than one-third of LDP members in the upper and lower houses (one-third is 128 members). …
Tag: Japanese politics
The LDP’s disorder deepens, but it remains one party — for now
Asō Tarō's decision to dissolve the Diet on 21 July and hold a general election on 30 August rippled through the LDP on Tuesday, as the prime minister's critics increasingly recognized that with the political system shifting into election mode, the window of opportunity to replace Asō is closing.Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintarō, whose position was …
Continue reading The LDP’s disorder deepens, but it remains one party — for now
Waiting for the reformists
The decision to delay the general election until 30 August means that there are weeks left for the LDP's warring policy groups to battle for the soul of the party.It turns out that the twenty-seven days that will elapse between the dissolution of the lower house on 21 July and the start of the campaign …
Celebrate the kaisan
Ken Worsley from Trans-Pacific Radio and I will be at the Cantina in Takadanobaba on Wednesday evening, when Guinness will be half price. Join us to talk politics or just to hoist a glass and celebrate the fact that we finally know when the election will be held.And if you are interested in attending the …
Aso pulls the trigger
Prime Minister Asō Tarō, facing open rebellion, has decided to exercise his nuclear option.At an emergency meeting of LDP executives, the prime minister and the LDP agreed that the lower house will be dissolved on 21 July and the general election will be held on 30 August. Kōji will be on 18 August.After two years …
The LDP falls in Tokyo
As of this writing, the DPJ has surpassed the thirty-eight it held before the election, winning forty-two seats. It is twenty-two short of a majority, with seventy-six remaining. (Sankei is updating results here; Asahi is here.)The DPJ will become the largest party in the Tokyo assembly, and given the disparity in the early results, it …
Uh oh
NHK reports that turnout exceeded fifty percent. I can't imagine that's good news for the government.
On the eve of destruction?
The denizens of Tokyo have started voting for representatives to the metropolitan assembly, and the LDP is already explaining away a defeat. Turnout may be up compared with 2005, which, as Jun Okumura notes, bodes ill for the LDP and Komeitō.Appearing on TV Saturday, Hosoda Hiroyuki, the LDP secretary general, said that the election will …
Who’s afraid of the conservatives?
Yamasaki Taku, perhaps the leader of the LDP's remaining doves, spoke at a Genron NPO meeting Thursday afternoon at which he addressed Murata Ryohei's revelations of the secret deal between the US and Japan that permitted the US to "introduce" nuclear weapons to Japan. (Previously discussed in this post.)"It is appropriate to approve this kind …
Observing Japan in Foreign Policy
My latest article, on the sinking ship that is Asō Tarō's LDP, is online at the Foreign Policy magazine website.You can read it here.(Alas, a mistake has been called to my attention, which I hope will be fixed soon.)
Tobias S. Harris 