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JAPAN / Politics
May 15, 2020

In blow to Abe, panel delays showdown over prosecutor retirement bill

The bill is a target of protests from the opposition and lawyers, who claim it would enable the politicization of an independent judiciary system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 15, 2017

A midterm review of Abenomics

So far the report card is good, but expect better for the future.
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2014

Promotion criteria for bureaucrats

Under a new government personnel management system, the prime minister's office will take the lead in promotions, transfers and appointments of senior officials at ministries and agencies to eliminate ministry sectionalism and to tap people more in line with the administration's policies.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 22, 2013

Fixing the much-admired, reviled Constitution — by breaking it

With Shinzo Abe having called Japan's current Constitution "pathetic" (mittomonai) just a few days before taking charge of a government established under it, constitutional amendment seems likely to be on the agenda of his second go as prime minister. This should not surprise anyone, since "fixing" the...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2012

Noda hoping latest reshuffle bucks trend of dismal failures

Cabinet reshuffles are generally called a gamble prime ministers take to reverse dismal approval ratings, but in recent years most of them have failed miserably.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2011

Kan offers exit, beats no-confidence vote

Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a no-confidence motion Thursday after suddenly announcing his intention to resign once disaster-hit Tohoku is back on its feet and the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant is safely under control.
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2011

Rough ride awaiting Mr. Kan

Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed his political hopes for 2011 at a news conference Tuesday, including his determination to end money-tainted politics and his wish to hold consultations with the opposition forces on reform of the social welfare system and reform of the tax system, which would include...
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2010

Incompetent leadership showed

Although the Kan administration managed to get the fiscal 2010 supplementary budget enacted during the latest Diet session, which ended Friday after 64 days, Prime Minister Naoto Kan failed to help generate meaningful exchanges of opinion between the ruling and opposition forces on important domestic...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 18, 2010

Prime minister makes bold move in shutting out Ozawa's influence

Taking the podium following the announcement of his victory against Ichiro Ozawa in the Democratic Party of Japan presidential election Tuesday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for party unity and promised that now the battle is over, "there were no sides."
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2010

From hope to disenchantment

Just six months have passed since the Sept. 16 inauguration of the Hatoyama administration. In his first policy speech, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged to do his utmost to build a nation truly based on the sovereignty of the people, and to "change the history" of the nation. There was a tangible...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2009

Aso deserves high praise

Allow me to cite from a private conversation held with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi around the summer of 2004, following the the Upper House election in July and ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle in September. I had made two requests of Koizumi: Revise the government's interpretation of the Constitution...
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2008

Aso team likened to school classroom

Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet lineup may look a bit subdued, but there's good reason for that: He deliberately picked low-profile politicians instead of factional bigwigs so he can lead them around like a "school teacher," experts said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2007

Abe & Co. stumbling toward a Diet showdown

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political future hinges on how he manages the extraordinary Diet session that starts Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2007

Voter litmus test last thing Abe needs now

Scandals, from corruption to suicide, have been the hallmarks of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first ordinary Diet session, which ended Thursday with support for his Cabinet at its lowest ebb.
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2006

Abe at crossroads of reform

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's two-month-old administration stands at the crossroads of how to implement the reform agenda inherited from the previous government of Junichiro Koizumi.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2005

Loyalty rewarded with prime portfolios

is a set of personnel appointments based on merit and reward," said Norihiko Narita, a professor of political science at Surugadai University. "The criteria (for being selected) was loyalty." For example, Seiken Sugiura, who was deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the previous Cabinet, was given the post...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2004

Koizumi's open-ended legac

On April 26 the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi entered its fourth year in power. Following his three-year rule under the slogan "No growth without reform," the Japanese economy is finally on a recovery track.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Key ministers keep jobs as Koizumi plays it safe

Having surprised everyone by naming young Shinzo Abe as the new secretary general of the LDP on Sunday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi opted for a more staid formula in announcing his new Cabinet on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2003

Mr. Koizumi gets down to business

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet Monday after his victory in Saturday's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election. The new Cabinet demonstrates the prime minister's determination to push his mandate without being swayed by forces that oppose his policy line.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

Pressure on Nukaga to quit in KSD row

Fukushiro Nukaga, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal affairs came under growing pressure Saturday to resign for accepting funds from the scandal-hit industrial insurance foundation KSD and is receiving little support from his Liberal Democratic Party colleagues.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2001

Ministry shakeup just a beginning

The government reorganization that took effect last Saturday is designed to create an administrative system more responsive to the needs of the times, with politicians, not bureaucrats, taking the initiative in shaping public policy. In the most drastic bureaucratic reform in half a century, the number...
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Hashimoto faction wins big in shakeup

Policy continuity, factional power plays and surprise appointments characterized the new Cabinet launched Tuesday by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who hopes his new team will help him and his Liberal Democratic Party survive the months leading to next summer's Upper House election.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2000

Resignation of Nonaka deals new blow to Mori

Embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who narrowly survived a recent no-confidence motion, was dealt another serious blow Friday with the sudden resignation of Hiromu Nonaka, secretary general of his Liberal Democratic Party.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2000

The prime minister's empty chair

Four weeks after former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was hospitalized with a stroke on April 2, the administration headed by new Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, appears to be functioning in a business-as-usual manner. In the past month, however, government...
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 1999

Coalition's anticlimactic debut

The curtain rose Thursday on the new conservative coalition government to reveal just one more unimpressive performance of the same old political drama. Much had been said and written about the apparent significance of the realignment, but it seems to have ended up as essentially just another political...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1998

Analysis: Leadership remains tied to factional politics

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1997

Prime minister may get a chance to speak

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two smaller non-Cabinet allies agreed Oct. 21 that Article 4 of the Cabinet Law should be rewritten to empower the prime minister to propose policy-related topics during Cabinet meetings.But the LDP failed to reach a consensus with the Social Democratic Party...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1997

LDP allies want Koko Sato to resign

The two non-Cabinet allies of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Sept. 16 to demand the resignation of Koko Sato, who was appointed head of the Management and Coordination Agency last week even though he was convicted in the 1970s Lockheed bribery scandal.

Longform

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