Japanese Politics

[SeijiSensei]

The president of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) has said he will resign amid allegations of corruption over Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Games.

[SeijiSensei]

The Council on Foreign Relations released a detailed report on the Japanese Constitution and the efforts to revise it.

"Polls by the liberal Asahi, the conservative Yomiuri, and the business-oriented Nikkei reveal surprisingly
similar long-term trends. There has been no upsurge in support for revision. While roughly half of the respondents are open to change, enthusiasm wanes when Japan's political leaders have other priorities.

"Thus while political leaders may see the benefit of amending the constitution, the Japanese public is far more skeptical. Even popular leaders, such as Prime Minister Abe, have been unable to move the needle on public opinion when it comes to constitutional revision."

https://www.cfr.org/interactive/japa...es-on-revision

[SeijiSensei]

A pictorial essay on now-former Emperor Akihito and his career.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...fe-in-pictures



In October 1992, Akihito becomes the first Japanese emperor to visit China, meeting Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin in Beijing. Akihito expressed “deep sorrow” for the countries’ troubled past.

[SeijiSensei]

How Abe has played Trump

According to Japanese media reports, however, Abe quickly balked on some key points: He resisted Trump’s demand at their meeting for quick access to Japan’s agricultural market; he made clear that Tokyo wants currency issues set aside for now; and he said Japan expects concessions from Washington, too.

Trump put on a brave face after the talks. His administration’s efforts, he insisted on Saturday, are “moving along very nicely.” But the reality is that Tokyo’s negotiating position has grown stronger over the past year as Trump has imposed tariffs and upended global supply chains—and the president is learning the hard way just how much his improvised approach to trade could leave him vulnerable to any negotiator who watches carefully.

It might seem as though the Japanese prime minister is suddenly hardening his stance, from Trump lapdog to proud nationalist, but Abe’s obsequiousness has been about tactics. The strategy with this president, as any observer of Trump now knows, is to avoid antagonizing the White House or drawing Trump’s wrath on Twitter. Abe seems to be doing just this so that he can in fact pursue Japan’s economic interests. Abe isn’t girding for a fight so much as trying to keep the peace without appearing to give in too much. And so far, it appears to be working.

Looking back over the past year, Abe’s strategy becomes clear. All along, he has hedged his bets in dealing with Washington. While Trump was slapping tariffs on steel, aluminum and $200 billion-plus of Chinese goods last year, irking allies, Abe was burnishing Japan’s free-trade bona fides. He signed the world’s largest free-trade deal with the European Union. He stuck with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, on which Trump reneged.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...nzo-abe-226764

[SeijiSensei]

The Japanese really don't like China. From a multi-national survey by Pew:



https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2...ided-on-china/

[judasmartel]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

The Japanese really don't like China. From a multi-national survey by Pew:

Pretty much this, plus both countries have a really bitter history with each other, especially after two Sino-Japanese Wars and the Japanese occupation of China in WW2.

[SeijiSensei]

Pew reports that immigrants constitute two percent of the populations of Japan and South Korea.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/i...ts-by-country/

Meanwhile a trade war is brewing between the two countries as Japan places restrictions on exporting chemicals used in the production of smartphones and displays. Politics, not economics, appears to be behind Japan's actions.

https://qz.com/1667137/a-new-trade-w...d-south-korea/

[SeijiSensei]

More on the politics behind the trade dispute:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...al-reason-why/

[SeijiSensei]

Shinzo Abe Declares Victory in Japan Election but Without Mandate to Revise Constitution

He will become Japan's longest-serving Prime Minister.

Mr. Abe’s conservative governing coalition won a majority of seats in the upper house of Parliament.

But in a setback for Mr. Abe in an otherwise victorious election, his coalition did not secure the number of seats needed to fulfill his long-cherished ambition of revising a pacifist Constitution that has been in place since American occupiers created it in 1947.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/w...ions-2019.html

These were elections for the upper house of the Diet, which I believe over-represents rural areas where older voters are more numerous. I've also seen articles suggesting, not surprisingly given their historical experience, that older voters are more likely to support the pacifist aspects of the Japanese Constitution. I'm having a hard time finding those citations today.

[Guardian Enzo]

It's true that (frustratingly) younger voters support Abe in higher numbers than any other demographic - kind of the opposite of what we see in the States. You have an opposition party (the CDPJ) that's strongly pro-LBGT rights, pro-working women and pro-immigration, and they disproportionately get support from voters over 60 (voters who, as a rule, are less favorably disposed towards those positions than younger voters). Is it the constitution? Apathy? Probably some combination.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Meanwhile a trade war is brewing between the two countries as Japan places restrictions on exporting chemicals used in the production of smartphones and displays. Politics, not economics, appears to be behind Japan's actions.

https://qz.com/1667137/a-new-trade-w...d-south-korea/

This dispute has now spilled over into the anime industry.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/int...-films/.149514

[Toukairin]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

It's true that (frustratingly) younger voters support Abe in higher numbers than any other demographic - kind of the opposite of what we see in the States. You have an opposition party (the CDPJ) that's strongly pro-LBGT rights, pro-working women and pro-immigration, and they disproportionately get support from voters over 60 (voters who, as a rule, are less favorably disposed towards those positions than younger voters). Is it the constitution? Apathy? Probably some combination.

Which makes me wonder one thing: how come there is no one among Japanese politicians who can be both a maverick and someone who speaks well to remove that apathy? When enough people are angry at the statu quo, it often requires one person to light up the tinderbox.

In the US, Bernie Sanders is a living example of someone who openly challenges the establishment and then gains steam from people who don't want the statu quo anymore. In Canada, there was a man named Jack Layton who used to be so good as a promoter of progressive ideas that he snatched so many votes from traditionally Liberal voters to make the New Democratic Party become the main opposition against the Conservatives; it was called the Orange Wave at the time. After Layton's death, the NDP has never been the same since.

Japan needs to find its Sanders or its Layton really fast until that apathy bears long-term consequences upon the country.

[Guardian Enzo]

Sanders is polling at about 12-15% in a primary among a party that about 35% of the population considers themselves members of. Let's not get swept up in the idea that the twitter bubble image of him is relevant to his actual importance or popularity. Edano Yukio (CDPJ leader) certainly got a higher percentage of the total population's support in the Upper House elections last month.

[SeijiSensei]

Japan has what political scientists might call a "subject" or "deferential" political culture. Sure there have been limited periods of rebellion like the mid-1960s, but they have been rare and ineffective. Look at how the LDP has dominated Japan's politics for decades, with just a very brief respite a few years back that really changed nothing of substance. The maintenance of the imperial line is another example of deference to authority. Britain has similar features in its political culture that tend to shore up the Tories. Media criticism of the government also tends to be fairly restrained.

Conformity and deference to authority seem a recurring feature of Japanese education as well. A famous Japanese proverb reads, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

[Guardian Enzo]

Yup, that sums up the problem pretty well.

[SeijiSensei]

Thanks. It's hard to play pundit for a society I've never set foot in and know mostly through anime.

[SeijiSensei]

Forget Putin and Kim. Trump’s real soulmate lives in Tokyo.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...e-lives-tokyo/

I'll say one word in Abe's defense. He was quick to disagree publicly with Trump last weekend over the issue of North Korean missile tests.

https://www.newsweek.com/japans-abe-...e-deal-1456060

Abe turned immediately to the UN Security Council resolutions on DPRK testing. Trump, having no use for international institutions, never mentioned the resolutions once.

Trump was incredibly blase when Kim began testing shorter-range missiles saying essentially, "if they can't reach the US, I don't care." I wondered how these remarks went over in Japan, and in the Republic of Korea and China.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/16/polit...ove/index.html

[SeijiSensei]

Abe's Giant Shredder

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...948_story.html

The Abe administration’s secretive approach to government papers — and an industrial-size shredder that can dispose of 1,000 pages of official documents in a single load — are dominating the headlines in Japan this week, as the opposition and media cry foul.

Abe became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister last week, but his approval ratings are falling on accusations he used an annual state-funded party over the cherry blossom season to invite hundreds of his supporters and cronies.

On Monday, a group of opposition politicians tried unsuccessfully to gain access to the Cabinet Office to see a massive shredder, reportedly the Nakabayashi NSC-7510 Mark III, that has become the symbol of government coverup in Japan.

Initially turned away, they returned on Tuesday to test the machine and discovered it could shred an 800-page guest list in just over 30 seconds. On its website, Nakabayashi boasts that the shredder can dispose of 550 kilograms (1,200 pounds) of paper in an hour.

Apparently some 15,000 people were invited to the sakura-viewing event including members of the yakuza and one executive whose company is under investigation for defrauding the elderly.

Japan has nothing like the Presidential Records Act which requires keeping a copy of everything the President touches. This is especially hard with Trump who likes to tear up documents after reading them. The White House has a team of aides who collect the pieces and reconstruct the documents to conform to the Act. Of course, no one has ever seen the notes of the translator from one meeting with Putin that Trump tore up.

Images

size

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[SeijiSensei]

South Koreans name China and Japan as their country's greatest threats.

[Ithekro]

How is Tunisia considered a threat....like, at all?