With the special session of the Diet session now in full swing, both the LDP and the DPJ are learning how to function in an unprecedented political environment. Barring the government's somehow folding and calling an early election — essentially giving up its Lower House supermajority, its one trump card — both parties will have …
Tag: LDP
Boots for ships?
The DPJ, JCP, SDP, and Kokumin Shinto collectively informed the government on Tuesday in a meeting of Kokutai chairs that they cannot cooperate with the government on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean, due to the lack of a provision mandating prior approval from the Diet. Indeed, at a press conference on Tuesday Mr. …
The LDP readies its bill
On the heels of Mr. Fukuda's maiden speech to the Diet, the government has outlined a new bill on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean and will begin working with relevant cabinet ministers and within the governing coalition to hammer out a final draft, before appealing to the DPJ to cooperate.Perhaps, then, Jun Okumura …
A very typical scandal
In case anyone thinks that the DPJ will buy the dodge attempted by CCS Machimura on The Sunday Project — discussed by Jun Okumura in this post — this post by Nagashima Akihisa should disabuse you of that notion.Mr. Machimura attempted to shift the blame to the US for reports that US warships used Japanese-provided …
The end of Abe politics (for now)
Prime Minister Fukuda delivered his maiden speech to the Diet this afternoon, reopening legislative business after an unscheduled three-week abeyance.If Mr. Fukuda was trying to differentiate himself from his successor, he succeeded admirably. Mr. Abe's way of politics was not just ideological, but inflexibly ideological. For Mr. Abe, it was always "my way or the …
More on DPJ parliamentary strategy
Following on Asahi's report on Mr. Ozawa's order to the DPJ to prepare a storm of legislation, Sankei provides a fuller survey of the DPJ's arsenal as it prepares for battle against Mr. Fukuda.One pillar is, of course, submitting a host of legislation to the Upper House. Sankei notes that in at least one case, …
Legislative storm!
As Nagatacho waits for Mr. Fukuda's maiden speech to the Diet, which will presumably outline how his government intends to proceed in the remaining weeks (months?) of the current special session of the Diet, the DPJ has decided to strike first on the legislative front.Following Mr. Ozawa's orders to the DPJ's Next Cabinet, the DPJ …
A tailwind, but where to?
In a year that has been nothing but hurricane-strength headwinds for the LDP, the party has for the first time in months a wind at its back.The talk of the day is, of course, the first opinion polls on the Fukuda cabinet, which show, across the board, a considerable boost for Mr. Fukuda and the …
Like father, like son
Following this post from last week, this article in Mainichi today caught my eye:Fukuda cabinet: many common points between father and sonComing to the plate in a "ninth inning, two outs, bases loaded" crisisThe article proceeds to discuss the number of similarities between the circumstances faced by Fukuda the elder and Fukuda the younger, not …
From Team Abe to Team LDP
The first day of the Fukuda cabinet has passed, and the new prime minister has already put himself in about as advantageous a position as possible in light of the difficult circumstances in which he has taken office.Criticism from the opposition and the media about the return of the factions notwithstanding, Mr. Fukuda has ensured …
Tobias S. Harris 