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.
Jiro Yamaguchi
For Jiro Yamaguchi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Commentary / Japan Aug 29, 2017
Signs of the far right in Japan's politics
The decline in popular support for the Abe administration might usher in an even worse scenario for Japan's politics.
Commentary / Japan Jul 25, 2017
Abe is stumbling but no challenger exists
Voters are ready for a viable alternative to the LDP, but the leading opposition party is failing to deliver.
Commentary / Japan Jun 27, 2017
The ongoing collapse of parliamentary politics
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's actions and behavior are more suited to a patrimonial state than a democracy.
Commentary / World May 29, 2017
A crisis of constitutional politics
A state of barbarism incompatible with modern constitutional principles permeates Japan's politics today.
Commentary / Japan Apr 25, 2017
A political tool called 'national security crisis'
The nation's deteriorating security environment explains why people continue to support the Abe administration even though they harbor doubts about it.
Commentary / Japan Mar 22, 2017
The self-contradictions of Japan's conservative forces
Abe advocates freedom and openness while abroad, but at home he does not hesitate to reverse the accomplishments of postwar democracy.
Commentary / Japan Feb 21, 2017
The Japan-United States alliance of despotism
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.
Commentary / World Jan 25, 2017
Political realignment in the era of Trump
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.
Commentary / Japan Dec 28, 2016
Crisis of democratic politics
The Abe administration is also riding on the wave of anti-establishment politics that's sweeping the world.