Hanaoka Nobuaki, journalist and onetime gubernatorial candidate in Nagano, has an interesting op-ed in today's Sankei Shimbun looking at how Abe has yet to find his "Three Sacred Treasures," the equivalent of the three advisors to Koizumi who helped shape his reform agenda: Shiokawa Masajyuro, his finance minister; Takenaka Heizo, his reform guru; and Iijima …
Tag: LDP
Criticize the media, but don’t let up on the pols
Ampotman directs another post against the media -- this time the Wall Street Journal -- for being unfair to Japanese prime ministers, this time Abe's august predecessors from the revolving-door nineties.Now, I don't disagree with his main point: the Western media's lack of attention to what happens in Japan is shockingly bad, with the possible …
Continue reading Criticize the media, but don’t let up on the pols
Abe a success?
Over at Ampotan, I found this post that attempts to question the perception of the Abe Cabinet's having been a failure thought provoking, but ultimately wrong.The mistake is equating legislative victories with success. Given the size of the LDP's majority in the Lower House, Abe hardly deserves credit for doing what a government supported by …
Reviewing collective self-defense
While all of political Japan continues to discuss the assassination of Nagasaki Mayor Ito -- which I discussed here -- I am interested in the ongoing preparations for Prime Minister Abe's visit to Washington at the end of the month.Today, the Sankei Shimbun reports, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki addressed questions about the Cabinet's study group …
Demographics and political change
The Japan Times has a brief article about the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' latest survey of Japan's population, conducted in October of last year.The survey found that Japan's population held steady at roughly 127 million people, but there was considerable change in the populations of Japan's prefectures, a continuation of the shift of …
LDP gloom in Kanagawa
In an article in yesterday's Shonan edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun -- as usual, not online -- entitled "The governor's expanding clout," LDP members of the Kanagawa prefectural assembly sound despondent in the face of Governor Matsuzawa's landslide victory Sunday, and, more significantly, the victory of DPJ and independent allies in campaigns for prefectural assembly …
Reading the local elections with an eye on July
I have held off from posting on the results of Sunday's local elections because I am not entirely sure what conclusion should be drawn.I think it would be a mistake to draw too-firm conclusions about the prospects for July's Upper House elections from the results.Is Ishihara's reelection a clear precursor of LDP victory in July? …
Continue reading Reading the local elections with an eye on July
The DPJ’s dilemma
With the Abe Cabinet determined to press ahead with passage of a bill establishing a national referendum system so that when the time comes a revised constitution can be submitted to a vote, the Democratic Party of Japan finds itself in something of a bind, because unlike previous opposition parties, the DPJ is not opposed …
George Bush helping Matsuoka?
George Bush, speaking to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, issued a challenge to Japan (and others):Today, more than 100 countries have fully or partially opened their markets to U.S. beef. The objective of this administration, however, is to make sure that they're better than partially opened, they're fully opened, including the countries like Japan and …
Free-for-all in the LDP
I want to call attention to this post by Adamu at Mutantfrog Travelogue, which thoroughly dissects the prevailing circumstances of the Abe Cabinet, including Abe's recent quashing of rumors hinting at a cabinet reshuffle.I just want to add a couple points to his cogent analysis.The problem, I think, with the Abe Cabinet is the Koizumi …
Tobias S. Harris 