Keizo Nabeshima - The Japan Times

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Keizo Nabeshima

For Keizo Nabeshima's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

Feb 29, 2000

No backtracking allowed

The peace-treaty talks between Japan and Russia are off to a fresh start because Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned as Russian president at the end of last year. Yeltsin had agreed at a Russo-Japanese summit meeting in 1997 that the two nations should "strive" to sign a long-pending peace pact by the end of 2000.

COMMENTARY

Feb 11, 2000

Diet imbroglio over at last

The Diet returned to normal Feb. 9, two weeks after the opposition forces started boycotting all proceedings to protest against the ruling bloc's handling of a controversial bill to reduce Diet seats. The turmoil started when the three-party governing coalition passed the bill for cutting Lower House proportional-representation seats by 20 at a Lower House special committee meeting in the absence of opposition members. The impasse ended through the mediation of Lower House Speaker Soichiro Ito.

COMMENTARY

Jan 31, 2000

Let the great debate begin

The Diet is finally launching debate on constitutional issues, breaking a long-standing political taboo. As the ordinary Diet session opened Jan. 20, both houses created panels to conduct the first parliamentary debate on the pros and cons of constitutional amendments. All political parties will take part in the debate, even though the Japan Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party had opposed establishment of the panels.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 17, 2000

Cut U.S. military presence

Japan faces intense pressure to settle uncertainties regarding the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa before July, when it hosts a Group of Eight summit. Unless the problems are settled by then, U.S. President Bill Clinton is likely to face a firestorm of anti-U.S. protests when he visits Okinawa to attend the summit. The new millennium problem for Japan will have a serious influence on Japan-U.S. security relations.

COMMENTARY

Jan 3, 2000

Building peace in a new era

As we greet the new millennium, we should ask ourselves what Japan should do to contribution to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, establish military and nonmilitary security, help solve global problems and prevent conflicts.

COMMENTARY

Aug 31, 1999

ODA helps Japan, the world

Medium-term policy guidelines for Official Development Assistance, announced by the government Aug. 10, set the standards for implementing Japan's ODA between 1999 and 2003. The guidelines place emphasis on aid to Asian countries to help them implement structural reforms aimed at solving their economic problems.

COMMENTARY

Jul 13, 1999

Break deadlock on base issues

U.S. President Bill Clinton expressed hope June 25 that all pending issues concerning U.S. military bases in Okinawa, including the issue of the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, will be resolved before he attends a Group of Eight summit there in July 2000. "I don't want to go over there and have all these things hanging out," Clinton told a White House news conference. The Japanese government and Okinawa Prefecture are now under pressure to expedite settlement of the issues, including the planned relocation of the Futenma facility.

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 1999

Japan presses Asia's agenda

In a strong warning to North Korea, the Group of Eight leaders who met in Cologne, Germany, earlier this month said in a declaration that they "are deeply concerned about recent missile flight tests and developments in missile proliferation, such as actions by North Korea."

COMMENTARY

May 28, 1999

A step in the right direction

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi agreed with U.S. and South Korean officials in Tokyo Monday on the need to continue trilateral cooperation in their policies toward North Korea. It is highly significant that Obuchi's agreement with U.S. policy coordinator William Perry and South Korean Unification Minister Lim Dong Won came on the same day that the Diet enacted a legislative package covering the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.

COMMENTARY

Apr 20, 1999

Last gasp for political parties?

The raison d'etre of established parties is in serious doubt following their serious setbacks in the April 11 local elections. A case in point was Shintaro Ishihara's overwhelming victory in the Tokyo gubernatorial election. Ishihara, a former lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, now running as an independent, crushed major contenders backed by the LDP, the Democratic Party of Japan and New Komeito. Many of the LDP faithful apparently voted for Ishihara, as did many floating voters. Ishihara declared after the victory that the results showed that established parties had become "worthless."

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 7, 1999

In the wake of the spy boats

Two North Korean spy boats disguised as trawlers recently intruded deep into Japanese territorial waters in the Sea of Japan. This was the second incident to have heightened tension between Tokyo and Pyongyang since last August, when a Taepodong ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea flew over northern Japan and fell into the Pacific.

COMMENTARY

Mar 23, 1999

Strategies for a secure Japan

Diet has finally begun debating the enabling bills for the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines, almost a year after the government sent them to the legislature last April. How the debate will develop in the weeks ahead has an important bearing on the security environment of Asia, including the Korean Peninsula.

COMMENTARY

Feb 23, 1999

Small weapons, big problems

The major challenge for post-Cold War disarmament negotiations on conventional weapons is to devise ways of controlling machine guns, automatic rifles and other small arms. Those are main weapons used in civil wars in Asia, Africa and Central America. To tackle the challenge, the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms is meeting this week in Geneva.

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