Yesterday I met with Garrett DeOrio of the always useful Trans-Pacific Radio project to record an episode of Seijigiri, TPR's political analysis program.Listen in here to the first part of an interview that (I think) covered most of the important issues involved in forthcoming LDP presidential election. A second part will air soon on the …
Tag: Japanese politics
The stakes of the anti-terror law debate
The DPJ has wasted no time in using its new found power to pressure the government.Two days into the Diet session, Mr. Ozawa has lambasted the government's suggestion that it will use its House of Representatives supermajority to override Upper House rejection of an anti-terror law. Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Komura said that …
A new 1955 system?
With Typhoon Fitow bearing down on the Kanto plain, I have decided to take shelter from the storm for the evening, and so there's no better time to step back and ponder the evolution of the Japanese party system.In the aftermath of the Upper House election, there was some talk of a political realignment as …
Groundhog day
I've said it before and I'll say it again (and again): there is not an "agriculture expert" in the LDP who has clean hands.With the resignation of Endo Takehiko as minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries one week into Prime Minister Abe's "re-challenge" cabinet, we're once again given a look at the reality of LDP …
What role will Masuzoe play?
"The leader's magnanimity, symbolized by the appointment of Mr. Masuzoe."That is the headline on a Mainichi article discussing the appointment of Masuzoe Yoichi as the new minister of healthy and welfare. Mr. Masuzoe, you will recall, was one of the fiercest critics of Mr. Abe's staying in office, arguing that the prime minister's decision ignored …
The press — for the most part — holds its praise
As the Japanese political world digests the newly announced cabinet reshuffle, the major dailies have each editorialized on the new cabinet, sounding some similar notes. Reading Asahi, Sankei, and Yomiuri, each editorial seemed pleasantly surprised by the quality of the individuals tapped by the prime minister for his new cabinet and the LDP executive. None, …
Continue reading The press — for the most part — holds its praise
The DPJ united, the LDP in shambles
In Yomiuri on Wednesday, there was an article — not online, of course — on the creation of a new DPJ security policy discussion group by Maehara Seiji. The article noted that the group will meet once a week to discuss the content of the anti-terror special measures law, conditions on the ground in Afghanistan …
The frog and the scorpion?
From August 3rd to 6th, Jiji asked voters what kind of government they would prefer. The top? An LDP-DPJ grand coalition, with 27.5% of respondents supporting it. Only 11.9% wanted the LDP-Komeito coalition to continue, while only 10.8% wanted a solely LDP government. Respondents seemed indifferent to which party was at the center of the …
A step forward?
It seems that incumbent LDP Diet Strategy Committee Chairman Nikai Toshihiro is being considered as Shiozaki Yasuhisa's replacement as chief cabinet secretary. Nikai, a onetime member of the Takeshita faction (like Ozawa) who left the LDP to join former Prime Minister Hosokawa's Japan Renewal Party in 1993 and served as a vice-minister in Hosokawa's cabinet, …
Abe to Mori: Do shut up
Prime Minister Abe, channeling his buddy George "the Decider" Bush, has responded to former Prime Minister Mori's "recommendations" for the composition of his next cabinet by reminding Mori who is responsible for the government. "I am the one person who must decide," he said.While I'm not exactly sad to see the authority of an old …
Tobias S. Harris 