Yamauchi Koichi, a first-term LDP member from Kanagawa's ninth district, making him a Koizumi child, has offered his response to Watanabe Yoshimi's leaving the LDP at his blog, a response that I think is typical of the Koizumi children as a whole.Mr. Yamauchi shares Mr. Watanabe's ideas of political and economic reform and is thus …
Tag: Japanese politics
Aso the impervious?
The bad news keeps coming for Prime Minister Aso Taro.He has been hit with another wave of negative poll results. In Yomiuri, his approval rating is a hair over 20%, while his disapproval has broken 70%, rising to 72.3%. In the same poll, Ozawa Ichiro remains gained another three points in the question of who …
"It’s the institutions" (Noah Smith)
Hi! First, of course, to introduce myself. My name is Noah Smith, and I'm an economics PhD student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (specialty: urban economics and macroeconomics). Between college and graduate school I lived in Osaka, Japan for 2.5 years, from 2003-2006, where I worked as an editor and also a …
Watanabe to LDP: I’m outta here
It appears that Watanabe Yoshimi is nearing a decision regarding his future in the LDP. With the second stimulus package scheduled to come to a vote on January 13, Mr. Watanabe could leave the LDP in a matter of days.Mr. Watanabe appears to be working hard to exacerbate tensions with the LDP. Not surprisingly, the …
Recommended book: Curing Japan’s America Addiction, Morita Minoru
For Morita Minoru, a longtime political commentator, something is rotten in the state of Japan."Japanese politicians," he writes, "have made serving the American government a priority when they should be focused on serving the Japanese people. Japan has lost its sovereignty to the United States. Our nation has been invaded and occupied by invisible forces."The …
Continue reading Recommended book: Curing Japan’s America Addiction, Morita Minoru
Before the deluge
After an abbreviated recess, the Diet will reconvene today for its 2009 ordinary session.The situation facing Aso Taro, his party, and his country is dire, and growing darker by the day. The latest development is the tent village — is it appropriate to call it an Asoville or Aso-mura? — that has been growing in …
Mr. Aso’s unbearable optimism
In his book Totetsumonai Nihon (2007), Aso Taro outlined an approach to governing Japan that amounts to a pep talk for the dispirited Japanese people.Time and time again, Mr. Aso suggests that the key to saving Japan is for its people to rediscover and celebrate their "latent power," to look cheerfully to the future, and …
The lessons of 2008
I have already written one retrospective essay on 2008 in Japanese politics, but I wanted to look back in more detail at this year's events and crystallize the year into a handful of lessons.As 2008 enters its final days, what have we learned about the state of the Japanese political system?First, and most importantly, the …
Mr. Watanabe’s rebellion
On Wednesday the House of Representatives voted on a DPJ-backed resolution calling for an immediate dissolution of the lower house followed by a general election.Watanabe Yoshimi broke with the LDP and voted for the resolution, backing his words with action. He stated that he was prepared for whatever punishment the LDP intends to mete out …
Endgame
As 2008 enters its final week, the LDP and Aso Taro, its beleaguered head, are being written off as doomed in the year to come.No one, it seems, is willing to offer an explanation for how the LDP can save itself in a general election. The LDP may yet win the general election, but its …
Tobias S. Harris 