Japan's New Day

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:03:41 -0800

Japan's opposition party, The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is projected to win a landslide victory tomorrow, ending the 52-year reign of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by the popular Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the DPJ could win a two-thirds majority, enabling them to roll legislation through the Diet unabated. Despite the projections, the two parties are still battling hard. Washington is following these elections very closely, because of the man who could be the next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama. In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, Hatoyama criticizes US economic and foreign policy, and says that while "the Japan-U.S. security pact will continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy", that "we must continue to build frameworks for stable economic cooperation and security across the [East Asian] region", including the development of a single pan-Asian currency. In addition, Hatoyama has been vocal about his opposition to public officials visiting Yasukuni Jinja, a Shinto shrine honoring fallen Japanese soldiers, including numerous war criminals - a move that could smooth relations with China and Korea. Gerald Curtis, a Japanese politics expert who teaches at Columbia University, sums up the sea change within the Japanese electorate thusly: "The DPJ will almost certainly win the majority — without a coalition partner. This is a huge, huge change. ... The public was waiting for a chance to show their dissatisfaction, which is why they had no election, because [Shinzo] Abe, [Yasuo] Fukuda and Aso knew that they would lose. So, they put it off until the very last moment. And lo and behold, they're going to lose."

ichiban kawaiii!

delmoi — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 15:58:55 -0800

Japan's Ruling party, has released a new draft of the Japanese Constitution The draft drops the whole 'renouncing war' bit, and re-titles article 9 'national security'. Japan is one of the largest military spenders in the world. Second only to the United States (IIRC). The new constitution also stipulates that the Emperor is the "head of state".

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Japan's New Day

ichiban kawaiii!