Akagi Norihiko, the late Matsuoka Toshikatsu's successor as minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, has resigned after two scandal-tainted months in the cabinet.His resignation in and of itself is not newsworthy. It is inconceivable that he would remain in the cabinet given that he has spent his entire tenure fending off corruption charges and in …
Tag: Matsuoka Toshikatsu
Meet the new daijin, same as the old daijin
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Abe summoned forty-eight-year-old Akagi Norihiko to Kantei and requested that Akagi serve as Matsuoka Toshikatsu's successor at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF). Akagi, a Tokyo University graduate, MAFF old boy (OB), and grandson of an agriculture minister in the cabinet of Abe's grandfather Kishi, was first elected …
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Change the LDP, change Japan — now more than ever
David Pilling, the FT's Japan correspondent, indirectly responds to a point I made earlier this week when discussing Matsuoka's suicide in an op-ed entitled "No way back to old Japan" (subscription required).As the title suggests, he argues that Matsuoka's suicide actually marks the death throes of the old political system:The postwar system that is now …
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Does Abe have nothing to worry about come July?
From the English-language blogosphere's resident Abe apologist comes another post arguing that all is well in Abe's beautiful Japan.Hey, Ampontan, do you do this pro bono, or is there some kind of secret yarase blogger program run out of the Kantei? If the latter, is it too late to sign up?I think, if the price …
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The Matsuoka saga is far from over
As fallout from Matsuoka's suicide continues to spread — with an executive at J-GREEN, the MAFF agency under investigation for dispensing contracts to companies supporting Matsuoka, following Matsuoka to the grave — the probability of the Matsuoka/seiji to kane issue looming large over the Upper House elections seems to rise by the day.What was once …
Whitewashing Matsuoka
Others bloggers have provided thorough reviews of the press response to Matsuoka Toshikatsu's suicide — see Adamu's post at Mutantfrog and Matt Dioguardi's at Liberal Japan — so I will not do so here.Instead, I want to take issue with the Yomiuri Shimbun's editorial on Matsuoka's death (and by extension Abe's high praise for Matsuoka's …
"An indispensable man of talent for agriculture administration"
Prime Minister Abe has given an official response to the suicide of MAFF Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu — what Sankei Shimbun has dubbed a "shock" to Japan's political world. While all parties and players are shocked by the news, however, the uniform response seems to be that Matsuoka's suicide, coming on the heels of revelations about …
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Matsuoka Toshikatsu, RIP
Beleaguered Agriculture Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu was found dead by his own hand this afternoon.I am somewhat hesitant to comment on the political ramifications, seeing as how this is a grim end to a sordid affair (and career); but it demands some response. Obviously I mean no disrespect to those grieving. This is a terrible end, …
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 …
Seen and heard at the Diet
I was in attendance at today's session of the Upper House's Budget Committee, where it was my boss's turn to question the government.I managed to see a line of questioning derived entirely from my own research posed to Prime Minister Abe and Defense Minister Kyuma, which was satisfying -- although the acoustics of the chamber …
Tobias S. Harris 