Abe: The Peace Constitution is Alien
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 6, 2018.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 6, 2018.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on December 13, 2017.
This Week in Japan is your source for news and information about politics and other happenings in this East Asian island country. This episode covers the Top Five stories of the second week of August 2017.
House of Representatives debate on the Conspiracy Bill begins. The controversial legislation expected to become “the main event” of this Ordinary Diet Session as the government and the opposition parties draw battle lines.
The Abe Cabinet itself is now openly endorsing and defending the Imperial Rescript on Education, in spite of the fact that both houses of the Diet denounced the document in June 1948 as a handmaiden to wartime Japanese militarism.
Japanese academics and scientists argue that the Abe government is in the process of shifting the nation’s university system and its industry from a footing of peace and consumerism toward the re-formation of a military-industrial complex, which will make the society increasingly dependent on arms exports and foreign wars.
The Abe administration gets a free ride from the Obama administration for Japanese rightwing ideology
A recent attempt by the Liberal Democratic Party to brand the Japan Communist Party as violent has sparked a new debate on the political history of Japan, but it seems to be primarily a cynical political ploy.
At the 93rd anniversary event of the Japan Communist Party, Chairman Kazuo Shii offered his view on how the so-called “Legislation for Peace and Security” will make future Japanese governments even less able to resist US government demands that they participate in foreign wars.
The first round of the unified local elections on April 12 showed once again that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are in firm control of the nation. More than two years after the December 2012 general elections, there remains no sign whatsoever that the opposition parties are on the rebound or can even put up a decent fight against the ruling coalition.