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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #25 on: October 13, 2014, 06:07:41 PM »

I looked around Japanese Wikipedia for a bit and apparently there is still one former Green Wind member around in the upper house, Kanda Kuniko. She's in Your Party now.
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Famous Mortimer
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« Reply #26 on: October 13, 2014, 07:19:23 PM »

Apparently Ichiro Ozawa's People's Life Party is still around, surprisingly.



Not really surprising. They've been around in one form or another for like 2 decades.
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Vega
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« Reply #27 on: October 14, 2014, 02:49:52 AM »

Apparently Ichiro Ozawa's People's Life Party is still around, surprisingly.



Not really surprising. They've been around in one form or another for like 2 decades.

It's surprising that they haven't merged with another party yet or somehow split.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #28 on: October 21, 2014, 02:39:53 PM »
« Edited: October 21, 2014, 03:08:28 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

Abe and his government are currently embroiled in their worst crisis since he became Prime Minister again. Last month, he appointed five new women ministers to the Cabinet. While this was an admirable gesture for what it was and particularly welcome in the context of Abe's so far seemingly well-intentioned attempts to make up for his dismal record on women's issues during his first premiership, none of their tenures have gone well, and Abe has left himself open to accusations of, among other things, tokenism.

Two of the new ministers--Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister Obuchi Yūko (daughter of Keizō, Prime Minister 1998-2000, whose seat in exurban/rural Gunma she's held since his death) and Justice Minister Matsushima Midori--resigned yesterday over campaign finance scandals (Obuchi's staff embezzled and distributed campaign monies as personal gifts, allegedly without her personal involvement; Matsushima improperly distributed thousands and thousands of paper fans with her likeness and policy platform on them to her constituents at a festival); of the remaining three--Interior Minister Takaichi Sanae, National Public Safety Commission Chairman and North Korean Abductions Advisor Yamatani Eriko, and Arimura Haruko, who's Special Minister for, concurrently, Regulatory Reform, Food Safety, the Declining Birthrate, and Gender Equality--all visited the Yasukuni Shrine the other day, and Yamatani has come under fire for associations with Zainichi Tokken wo Yurusanai Shimin no Kai ('Association of Citizens Who Won't Forgive/Excuse Special Privileges for Ethnic Koreans'), which is exactly the sort of group you'd expect it to be (unless you would expect it to be violent. It's more Front National than Golden Dawn, thank God). Naturally, these sorts of associations are especially damning for a minister whose portfolio by its very nature is intimately concerned with Korea.

Furthermore
Takaichi may or may not have neo-Nazi sympathies.

Arimura is alone in not really having done anything wrong besides the Yasukuni visit. She also has a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation from the School for International Training in Vermont. Let's see if she can put it to use to get her and her colleagues out of this shitstorm.

This is particularly saddening to me in the case of Obuchi, who before this broke was one of my favorite LDP politicians (which is, for once, not actually intended as damning with faint praise). She was widely visible and highly popular, was considered a leading moderate in the government, and was seen as one of the likeliest possibilities to be Japan's first woman Prime Minister. She was also intended to act as a comforting and palatable face for the plans to restart Japan's nuclear reactors. Personally, I'm not really mourning Matsushima because Matsushima was a wingnut anyway (she once seriously floated the idea of giving sex offenders what was essentially the A Clockwork Orange treatment) and replacing Tanigaki Sadakazu with her was a bad idea in the first place.

Matsushima's been replaced by Kamikawa Yōko, an uncontroversial-seeming longtime backbencher from Shizuoka about whom I know nothing. Obuchi's been replaced by Miyazawa Yōichi, a similarly obscure Councillor and former Representative from Hiroshima.
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CrabCake
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« Reply #29 on: October 21, 2014, 03:04:40 PM »

Perhaps the curse of Abe's abysmal first term is heading back with a vengeance. The IMF has also slashed Japan's predicted growth, blaming the consumption tax rise.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #30 on: October 21, 2014, 03:07:40 PM »

The sooner the idea that (unfair, regressive) consumption taxes are somehow a particularly salutary method of revenue generation gets out of the collective head of the worldwide governing classes, the better.
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Vega
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« Reply #31 on: October 21, 2014, 03:08:30 PM »

Thanks for all the info.

Tokenism isn't anything new, but when it blows up like this, it's unfortunate. Especially since Abe was trying to generally do a good thing by appointing them.

Is there something wrong with the vetting process in Japan? Or do the would-be minister not go through one?
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #32 on: October 21, 2014, 03:12:16 PM »
« Edited: October 21, 2014, 05:18:48 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

I can only assume it's next-to-nonexistent, because Matsushima's fan distribution shenanigans and Takaichi's pictures with the leader of the National Socialist Japanese Workers' Party (of whose identity she since claimed to have been not entirely aware at the time that they were taken), at least, showed up after pretty cursory investigation.

It should, in fairness, be noted that Matsushima almost certainly could have survived the fan thing, she just chose not to.

ETA: This gets worse, by the way. Abe had to apologize to the leader of Kōmeitō for making them (Kōmeitō) look bad by association; the new Defense Minister, Eta Akinori, is in trouble for improperly revising his expense reports; the new Agriculture Minister, Nishikawa Kōya, has had to divest from a livestock concern involved in an investment scam; the new Health Minister, Shiozaki Yasuhisa, has had to deny influence-peddling for an old folks' home in his constituency; and Tanigaki described Obuchi as 'a symbol of women’s active participation in society' in a context that made it clear that her loss as such is projected to be incredibly damaging to the government.
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Vega
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« Reply #33 on: October 21, 2014, 04:57:01 PM »

It will be interesting to see how Abe's approval rating is looking after these scandals. Wouldn't shock me if it's under 45%.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
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« Reply #34 on: October 21, 2014, 05:25:00 PM »

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Abe is no longer in office by the end of the year if this goes on. (Not to overstate the case--I wouldn't be surprised if he is still in office either.)
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Vega
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« Reply #35 on: October 21, 2014, 05:55:12 PM »

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Abe is no longer in office by the end of the year if this goes on. (Not to overstate the case--I wouldn't be surprised if he is still in office either.)

If he's out, who do you think will replace him? Is there any chance Aso might come back for another go as PM?
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #36 on: October 21, 2014, 07:10:47 PM »
« Edited: October 21, 2014, 07:13:10 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Abe is no longer in office by the end of the year if this goes on. (Not to overstate the case--I wouldn't be surprised if he is still in office either.)

If he's out, who do you think will replace him?

I've heard murmurs about Suga Yoshihide (ugh) and Kishida Fumio (meh), but I don't have a good track record of predicting LDP leadership changes. If I did, Tanigaki would have been Prime Minister for the past two years.

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God, I hope not.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #37 on: October 22, 2014, 03:56:04 PM »
« Edited: October 22, 2014, 03:57:51 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

A bunch of Japanese firms and government agencies have offered to help develop a new capital for Andhra Pradesh. Japanese-Indian relations have long been a special area of interest for Abe.
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Vega
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« Reply #38 on: October 22, 2014, 04:39:01 PM »


His views are pretty much in lockstep with Modi, so it makes sense.
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jaichind
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« Reply #39 on: October 23, 2014, 08:22:17 AM »

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-23/abe-minister-says-aide-spent-funds-in-bondage-bar-reports-say.html

The newly appointed industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa which replaced Yuko Obuchi who herself quit after a few days due to another scandal admitted that his underlings had spent office cash at a S&M sex bar.  What is funny about this in addition to the scandal aspects of this is aristocratic nature of these appointments. Yoichi Miyazawa is the nephew of a former PM and Yuko Obuchi is the daughter of a former PM.  Oh yeah, Shinzō Abe is the grandson a PM as well while we are at it. 

On the other hand I really doubt any of these scandals will lead to Shinzō Abe's departure.  What took him down last time was not the scandals per say but scandals PLUS DPJ led alliance taking over the upper house.  Once the scandals hit, the DPJ was justified in blocking everything that the Shinzō Abe regime was doing on the principle that these scandals proved that Shinzō Abe lost the right to rule.  Such a situation is not in place today with the opposition parties still nowhere in terms of being able to join forces and challenge LDP.  Unless LDP sees a danger of losing the next round of elections, Shinzō Abe is safe.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #40 on: October 23, 2014, 11:08:17 AM »

The newly appointed industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa which replaced Yuko Obuchi who herself quit after a few days due to another scandal admitted that his underlings had spent office cash at a S&M sex bar.

Oh dear Jesus this is great.

On the other hand I really doubt any of these scandals will lead to Shinzō Abe's departure.  What took him down last time was not the scandals per say but scandals PLUS DPJ led alliance taking over the upper house.  Once the scandals hit, the DPJ was justified in blocking everything that the Shinzō Abe regime was doing on the principle that these scandals proved that Shinzō Abe lost the right to rule.  Such a situation is not in place today with the opposition parties still nowhere in terms of being able to join forces and challenge LDP.  Unless LDP sees a danger of losing the next round of elections, Shinzō Abe is safe.

I don't have a good track record of predicting LDP leadership changes.
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Vega
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« Reply #41 on: October 23, 2014, 02:38:18 PM »

They need to vet these guys.
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King
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« Reply #42 on: October 23, 2014, 03:29:25 PM »

"Japan General Discussion" should be banned from any self-respecting English-speaking website.
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jaichind
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« Reply #43 on: October 24, 2014, 07:52:28 AM »

More news on Yoichi Miyazawa, who only took the job a few days ago when predecessor Yuko Obuchi stepped down.  It appears that he has a stake in the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant that he oversees.  This extra awkward since it is his job to convince the public that it is safe to restart the plant  which has the side affect of increasing the value of his shares.  To be fair the amount in question is only a few thousands dollars.  The complaint seems to be that he should have just sold this stake when he was given this job. 

Anyway, I do think it is critical that these nuclear plants do start up as soon as possible.  I was on a business trip to Tokyo in Aug this and I the comment I made to myself was "why is the AC here so bad or non-existent."  Then I realized it is because of the bad power situation. 
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #44 on: October 24, 2014, 02:05:42 PM »

"Japan General Discussion" should be banned from any self-respecting English-speaking website.

Bullsh**t. A cabinet reshuffle is going more pear-shaped than I've seen or heard of any cabinet reshuffle going since Macmillan's Night of the Long Knives. This is comedy, this is drama, this is everything we (or, at least, I) follow international politics for. It wouldn't be self-respecting of us not to have this thread.
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jaichind
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« Reply #45 on: October 25, 2014, 01:49:30 PM »

Yoichi Miyazawa's response to the most recent scandal where he has found to hold stock in the company whose cleanup of the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant he would oversee is quite funny.

“Honestly, I thought it was my duty as a politician to possess them,” Mr. Miyazawa said, according to Kyodo News, saying that ownership of the shares had allowed him to keep an eye on the company’s efforts to clean up after the 2011 nuclear accident.

Imagine if the US secretary of Defense would say something like "but I thought it was my duty as a politician to own shares in Lockheed Martin, that way I can keep a eye on that contractors work delivering weapons orders from the Defense Department"
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #46 on: October 27, 2014, 11:47:03 PM »

Japanese officials have arrived in North Korea for talks on the abduction issue. I'm not optimistic.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #47 on: October 29, 2014, 04:26:11 PM »

A chapter of the Izokukai, a powerful conservative interest group representing the families of the Japanese dead of World War II, now supports removing Class A war criminals from Yasukuni, or at least in some way 'separating' them from the other souls enshrined there.

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(The title of the New York Times article might give the false impression that the Izokukai as a whole has embraced this proposition; it is in fact just the Fukuoka chapter.)
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #48 on: October 29, 2014, 04:51:41 PM »
« Edited: October 30, 2014, 03:26:13 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

I thought I'd do a complete list of all parties represented in the lower house, their rough numbers of seats, and their general ideologies. Descriptions of parties that existed two years ago will be generally based on those that I gave in the 'Japan 2012' thread back then, but may differ in wording.

Party standings in the lower house (ruling party in bold, coalition partner in italics):

Liberal Democratic Party (big-tent conservative, with factions ranging from traditionalist to neoliberal to historical-revisionist to what could almost be considered Right-Hegelian; has been in power for all but six of the past sixty years): 293
Democratic Party of Japan ('Third Way', big-tent, essentially governed as generic (and incompetent) 'reformists' while in power from 2009 to 2012): 55
Japan Innovation Party (Nationalist, neoconservative, populist, would be unambiguously far-right had it not absorbed a more moderate party in recent months): 41
Kōmeitō (Nichiren Buddhist, religious conservatives in the Japanese context, center-right, dovish whereas the LDP is generally hawkish): 31
Party for Future Generations (unambiguously far-right, split from the Innovation Party over the latter's absorption of the more moderate party): 19
Your Party (neoliberal and generically reformist): 9
Japanese Communist Party ('Eurocommunist' except it's not Europe): 8
People's Life Party (Ozawa Ichirō appreciation life): 7
Social Democratic Party ('Third Way' and more committedly so than the DPJ): 3
New Party Daichi (was a ragtag bunch of misfits except now there's only one misfit left): 1

Speaker and Vice-Speaker: 2
Independents: 11

The government now has a notional majority of 326-154 out of 480, counting the Speaker and Vice-Speaker since Japan to the best of my knowledge uses Speaker Denison's rule.

The notional majority was 327-153 after the last general election.
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Vega
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« Reply #49 on: October 30, 2014, 03:13:58 PM »

IIRC New Party Daichi drop the "True Democrats" part of there name.

That being said, nice list. It'll probably change next week, but it's great you made it.
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