
Commentary / Japan Oct 27, 2017
Winners and losers in the election
Last week's Lower House election was quite different from the contests the ruling alliance won in recent years.
For Jiro Yamaguchi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Last week's Lower House election was quite different from the contests the ruling alliance won in recent years.
The decline in popular support for the Abe administration might usher in an even worse scenario for Japan's politics.
Voters are ready for a viable alternative to the LDP, but the leading opposition party is failing to deliver.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's actions and behavior are more suited to a patrimonial state than a democracy.
A state of barbarism incompatible with modern constitutional principles permeates Japan's politics today.
The nation's deteriorating security environment explains why people continue to support the Abe administration even though they harbor doubts about it.
Abe advocates freedom and openness while abroad, but at home he does not hesitate to reverse the accomplishments of postwar democracy.
In both Japan and the U.S., the governments are retreating from the rule of law and guarantee of people's freedom under the cause of national security.
With the inauguration of new U.S. President Donald Trump, democratic politics are being confronted with changes of the magnitude that could happen only once in a century.
The Abe administration is also riding on the wave of anti-establishment politics that's sweeping the world.