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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as...
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Jan 1, 2001

Carrying out reform is only the beginning for politicians

The final 10 years of the 20th century have been called a "lost decade" for Japan, which continues to suffer woes from the burst of the late-1980s bubble-economy. Japan's comeback as a globally competitive economic powerhouse will require fundamental reforms not only in the industrial and financial sectors...
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 27, 2021

Suga's top-down management style under scrutiny after series of rapid policy shifts

The prime minister's approach could backfire and is already undermining the government's traditional chain of command.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 17, 2020

How will Japan's new prime minister transition from lieutenant to leader?

For one thing, Yoshihide Suga will have to pay back his allies for their support with Cabinet and LDP leadership appointments, as well as potential policy concessions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Nov 16, 2015

And now for something completely unconstitutional

When did the Abe-verse become an alternate reality where past violations of the nation's basic law can, with a straight face, be used to justify further violations of the same type?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2009

DPJ seeks coalition balancing act

With a little more than a week to go before Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama is elected prime minister, media attention is focused on whether the DPJ will be able to create a unified policymaking system while building a stable relationship with two smaller allies.
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2002

Koizumi takes aim at collusion

The scandals involving two Liberal Democratic Party bigwigs -- former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former Hokkaido and Okinawa Development Agency Director General Muneo Suzuki -- are a reminder of the cozy ties that bind LDP politicians, bureaucrats and businesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 7, 2020

'Single mind' no more: Abe's onetime right-hand man sees his influence dwindle

Despite his long history of supporting the prime minister, the chief cabinet secretary is finding himself increasingly marginalized.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jan 15, 2011

Analysts doubt new picks' clout

Despite Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge to create the "best lineup to overcome the crisis," political pundits were skeptical that replacing Yoshito Sengoku with Yukio Edano as chief Cabinet secretary and taking on outsider Kaoru Yosano will help his team solve the ruling party's biggest problems.
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2010

New prime minister's lineup

New Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced the lineup of the Democratic Party of Japan's party leadership and the Cabinet. The lineup clearly shows his thinking: Give a fresh image to the party and Cabinet and win back people's trust by diluting the influence of former DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2009

Is Aso only postponing the inevitable?

The political news that will have the most far-reaching repercussions into the new year is the plummeting approval rating of Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet, and his delay in dissolving the Lower House of the Diet for a general election.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi meets Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki at the Okinawa Prefectural Government building on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2024

Japanese government to proceed with U.S. base relocation within Okinawa

During the meeting with Hayashi, Tamaki demanded that the central government immediately stop the landfill work related to the Futenma relocation project
Factions, cliques, caucuses — whatever they may be called, groupings in legislatures are not unusual in many countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Perspectives
Mar 2, 2024

Is the funding scandal unraveling the LDP?

The media is caught up in the money-politics scandal of the moment, framing factions as all good or all bad. Things are a lot more nuanced than that.
Japan’s Cabinet agreed to ease defense export rules for the nation’s next-generation fighter jet, a concept model of which is seen on display here at a defense show in Chiba in March 2023.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2024

Japan greenlights its defense industry

The government's steps on easing defense export rules will allow Japanese companies to participate more fully in the global market for defense equipment.
Israeli Minister Benny Gantz addresses the media after his ultimatum to withdraw his centrist party from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's emergency government expired, in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2024

Gantz quits Israel government while U.S.-Saudi deal moves forward

The treaty would commit the U.S. to helping defend Riyadh as part of a deal aimed at encouraging Saudi-Israel diplomatic ties, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Praty hopes to capitalize on a sense of renewal stemming from the election of a new president to succeed Fumio Kishida, who has said he will not seek reelection.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 18, 2024

LDP pinning hope on boost from leader change

The LDP will hold a leadership election in September to choose the successor to President Fumio Kishida, who said last week that he will step down.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves during a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2024

In CNN interview excerpts, Harris defends ideological shift to center

In her interview, Kamala Harris sought to stake out political ground that would appeal to swing voters even as she assured progressive supporters she was still with them.
Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has a strong influence over the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2024

LDP linchpin Moriyama has big influence over Ishiba

The newly elected president took his secretary-general's advice on several key matters, including party and Cabinet appointments as well as calling a snap election.
U.K. Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch (left) and Robert Jenrick after delivering speeches at the party's annual conference, in Birmingham, England, on Oct. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 10, 2024

Who are Badenoch and Jenrick, the candidates to lead U.K. Tories?

By choosing Badenoch or Jenrick, the Conservative party looks set to appeal to supporters lost to Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform U.K. party.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, face off in an election Tuesday that will have wide-ranging implications for Japan.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 3, 2024

Status quo or disruption? Breaking down the U.S. election's impact on Japan

Regardless of who wins, Washington is likely to have limited bandwidth to change tack in a significant way with its most important Asian ally.
Sanae Takaichi (left) celebrates Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in becoming the head of the Liberal Democratic Party along with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo in September. Takaichi appears to be the only woman in any party who is close to breaking the glass ceiling to become the nation’s first female leader. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2024

The derailing of potential female prime ministers

Sanae Takaichi stands as the closest woman to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming Japan's first female prime minister.
Canadian Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Nov. 30, 2020
WORLD / Politics
Dec 17, 2024

Trudeau teeters in Canada after deputy’s scathing resignation

Even before the deputy shocked the country with her letter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s grasp on power already appeared to be slipping.
Evacuated people rest at a green house converted into an evacuation center in the aftermath of an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 2. Japan is preparing to create a disaster management agency, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba particularly keen to improve the conditions of emergency shelters for disaster evacuees.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Japan preparing to create disaster management agency

Disaster-related deaths exceeded 220 in the 2016 quake disaster in Kumamoto Prefecture and topped 240 in the Noto Peninsula temblor.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and other Asian leaders pose for a family photo during a the ASEAN-U.S. 40th Anniversary Summit in Manila in November 2017. The U.S. president-elect’s Cabinet secretary level and other picks for his second term point to a tougher China policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2025

What Trump’s appointments tell us about his Asia policy

Donald Trump’s second term as president appears set to intensify efforts to curb China’s influence while maintaining crucial alliances in Asia.
People gather as family members and supporters of hostages deliver statements for the release of people who were kidnapped during Hamas' attack in October 2023, on Jan. 17 in Tel Aviv.
WORLD
Jan 17, 2025

Hamas to release first hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Israel says

If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza and killed over 46,000 people.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal is a reckless plan that would forcibly displace Palestinians, destabilize neighboring countries, empower Iran and and hinder any long-term peace efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Trump’s Gaza plan is a crazy answer to a valid question

It is a propsal that will love Israel to death, revive Iran to life and destabilize every American friend.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a session of the Upper House Budget Committee in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 18, 2025

Why ousting Ishiba could be a tricky task

Passing a no-confidence motion could result in the dissolution of the Lower House within 10 days, triggering another election the opposition might lose.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami