Japan Tobacco Wins Again
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 30, 2018.
Tag Archives: Natsuo Yamaguchi
The Deplorables: Marines Continue Flights over Okinawa School
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 18, 2018.
Kim Jong-Un Makes Peace Overture
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 2, 2018.
Today in Japan (11.24.17)
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on November 24, 2017.
Today in Japan (11.12.17)
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on November 12, 2017.
Japan Arab Day 2017
Japan Arab Day 2017 at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Guests included Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, and Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi.
Loneliness of the Long-Distance Coalition Partner
This should be the best of times for the New Komeito Party. Somehow they remained loyal partners of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even after the crushing electoral defeat of August 2009, and they patiently weathered more than three years on the opposition benches while the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) mismanaged the nation. By rights, the last two national elections should be judged a triumph in which this party performed well and its ally came to dominate the government ranks.
A Coup by Appointment: Debilitating Article Nine
It is not exactly an unknown technique in politics, but the Abe administration is using it in several high-profile cases, and some people, at least, have noticed. The technique is to establish supposedly “independent” panels or organizations, but appointing people to serve on those panels or in those organizations whose opinions and conclusions are already known in advance.
Opposition Party Meltdown Puts Abe in Command
Last Sunday’s unusually predictable House of Councillors elections produced their predictable results: the LDP and New Komeito seized a strong majority in the chamber and thus will now firmly control both houses of the Diet. For the next three years the “twisted Diet” will be untwisted and, if governed with restraint, this administration should be able to see almost all of its bills enacted into law. An era of relative political stability may now be commencing.
