After nearly returning to the LDP in the waning days of the Abe cabinet, Hiranuma Takeo, holdout postal rebel and conservative stalwart, is not particularly popular among the LDP's elders.Recall, for example, that in January Mori Yoshiro scolded Nakagawa Shoichi for working with Mr. Hiranuma in their "True Conservative Policy Research Group," AKA the HANA …
Tag: LDP
Signs of compromise?
With the end of Fukui Toshihiko's term as BOJ president rapidly approaching, there are signs that the LDP and the DPJ might be able to come to terms on the nomination of his successor.Messrs. Oshima and Yamaoka, Diet strategists for the LDP and DPJ respectively, met once more on Thursday and agreed that a vacancy …
Will Fukuda last?
Many analysts of Japanese politics assumed at the inception of the Fukuda cabinet that his was little more than a caretaker government.Now more than 100 days into the Fukuda administration, it remains difficult to say whether that assessment will turn out to be accurate. If the caretaker's job is to stabilize the ruling party and …
Why a realignment is inevitable
Janne Morén's recent post on institutional loyalty (thanks for the reminder, MTC) provides an excellent argument for why to anticipate a new political realignment in the near future.He writes:If we return to politics, the situation shares some similarities and there is a clear possibility of a similar dissolution of loyalty between lawmakers and their parties. …
Bank chaos
The fight between the LDP-Komeito governing coalition and the DPJ over the leadership of the Bank of Japan shows no sign of abating.On Wednesday, of course, the DPJ-led House of Councillors formally rejected the government's nomination of Muto Toshiro to be the new president of the BOJ. The government has resubmitted Mr. Muto's nomination in …
Watering down administrative reform
It appears that the administrative reform package desired by Watanabe Yoshimi, minister responsible for administrate reform, will be watered down as expected. Given the reception Mr. Watanabe's proposals received in the cabinet, I can't say that I'm surprised.According to Mainichi, the powers of the Cabinet Personnel Agency, the central feature of Mr. Watanabe's plan, will …
Radical decentralization
Aso Taro, looking hungrily to his next bid for the LDP presidency, has continued his campaign to remake his image with an article in Voice in which he discusses the need for a radical reorganization of how Japan is governed, including both a consolidation of prefectures into larger "states" and a transfer of authority, including …
My latest in FEER
Subscribers to the Far Eastern Economic Review can read my latest contribution — on the future of the LDP — here.
The looming empty chair "crisis"
Following the government's formal nomination of Muto Toshiro for the post of BOJ president on Friday, the LDP launched a war of words over the weekend to paint the DPJ as irresponsible and pressure it to accept Mr. Muto to prevent a vacancy at the BOJ.On Saturday, Tanigaki Sadakazu, LDP policy chief and former finance …
The LDP acts to shift the blame
In a transparent attempt to shift the blame for the Bank of Japan "crisis" from the government to the DPJ, today the Fukuda Cabinet officially submitted its nomination of Muto Toshiro to be the next BOJ president. If a Mr. Muto or another candidate is not confirmed within the next twelve days, the post will …
Tobias S. Harris 