Addressing the DPJ's rejection of the nomination of Watanabe Hiroshi to be deputy governor of the Bank of Japan at a press conference Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura Nobutaka commented upon the internal dynamics of the DPJ. He said, "Although a majority of the DPJ's investigatory subcommittee on joint personnel decisions approved the nomination, I …
Tag: LDP
All’s well that ends well; or, much ado about nothing?
As expected, the DPJ-led House of Councillors approved the nomination of Shirakawa Masaaki, the acting governor of the Bank of Japan, to serve as the full-fledged governor, thus ending Japan's three-week nightmare with only an acting governor at the helm of the BOJ. Mr. Shirakawa will make his debut on the international stage later this …
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The unknown but limited power of the censure motion
During the fight over the MSDF refueling mission and at other junctures in the months since the DPJ took control of the HC, the DPJ has threatened to use its "censure motion" card. It has yet to play it, whether against Prime Minister Fukuda or one of his cabinet ministers.It is still unknown what will …
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Koizumi changes his mind
Speaking Monday at a party held by the Kanagawa chapter of the LDP, Koizumi Junichiro changed his position on the timing of a general election.He had previously stated that he shared the LDP leadership's view that an early election is unnecessary, but Monday he warned that an election is coming soon — and LDP members …
Is a tax revote a sure thing?
Yamamoto Ichita, who is a far more prolific blogger than I despite (because of?) his membership in the House of Councillors (I've just added his blog to the blogroll after linking to him for months), lays out the reasons why the government must use the HR supermajority to reintroduce the temporary tax.His four reasons are: …
Three weeks and counting
Aso Taro continues to position himself as the LDP's savior in a rapidly approaching post-Fukuda period — in MTC's extended (and excellent) Fukuda-as-currency analogy, Mr. Aso is hoping that he is the best store of value in a chaotic environment.His latest move is to come out on behalf of the restoration of the temporary tax …
The government serves up a weak adminstrative reform bill
On Thursday morning the LDP's headquarters for the promotion of administrative reform approved an administrative reform plan and passed it along to the cabinet. The cabinet approved it Friday morning and will submit it to the Diet later today.The plan still calls for a new cabinet personnel agency and restrictions on direct contact between politicians …
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The imperial guard coalesces
It's been less than a week since Prime Minister Fukuda made his eleventh hour appeal to the DPJ to cooperate in the gasoline tax/road construction dispute, discarding much of the road tribe's program in the process and leading Kono Taro to remark (noted here) that the young reformers had gone "from opposition forces to imperial …
How "sympathetic" should Japan be?
As expected, the governing coalition passed a three-year extension of the sympathy budget in the House of Representatives Wednesday. The House of Councillors now has one month to deliberate on it before it comes into law automatically.And deliberate it will. In the lower house, the DPJ already questioned the use of the sympathy budget to …
April fools?
Today, April 1, the Japanese people have received an April Fool's Day gift in the form of a potentially temporary tax cut on gasoline and automobile purchases. There is, reports the media, chaos at the car dealerships and chaos at the petrol pumps. There is uncertainty regarding current road construction projects. And in a press …
Tobias S. Harris 