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JAPAN
Jan 6, 2011

Sengoku tries to get opposition to back off

Opposition parties shouldn't boycott Diet deliberations attended by two key ministers targeted by nonbinding censure motions in the Upper House in November, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, one of those singled out, said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

Kan heaps more coals on Ozawa fire

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa should decide his own course of action, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday, indicating the DPJ don should consider resigning from both the ruling party and the Diet when he is indicted over his political money scandal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 27, 2010

What's in a name? Politics as usual

When the Democratic Party of Japan indicated in its political manifesto that it favored voting rights for foreign permanent residents, the reaction from some quarters of the media was visceral. In early April, publisher Takarajima-sha produced a 96-page "emergency publication" titled "Gaikokujin Sanseiken...
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2010

Work cut out for Mr. Kan

Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan was chosen as Japan's next prime minister by the Diet on Friday, two days after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned on the heels of his mishandling of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma relocation issue and a scandal involving his political...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2010

Hatoyama quits as prime minister

Ending a turbulent eight months in office, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he will step down to take the blame for his Cabinet's plunging approval rate, brought on by funds scandals and the row over relocating a U.S. base in Okinawa.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2010

Half-year on, Hatoyama struggling

It's been six months since Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Cabinet strutted the red-carpet for an inaugural photo session, staging a perfect Hollywood ending to a summer blockbuster election that knocked the Liberal Democratic Party out of almost 50 years of unbroken rule.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2010

Stepping up to devolution

Giving more power to local governments is one of the Democratic Party of Japan's main election promises. The Hatoyama administration and local governments on Feb. 18 agreed on a draft of a bill giving legal backing to a planned policy forum in which concerned Cabinet ministers and local government leaders...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2009

Bureaucratic reform first hurdle

After a historic landslide victory in the Aug. 30 election, a new Cabinet was launched Wednesday, led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan.
LIFE
Sep 13, 2009

Winning was the easy part for Hatoyama's DPJ

After generations of rule, the Liberal Democratic Party was trounced by the Democratic Party of Japan in last month's Lower House elections. Jeff Kingston weighs what went wrong, what went right — and what now for a nation whose voters are sick of 'politics as usual'?
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 22, 2009

LDP kept voters at bay while watching popularity ebb

Just four years ago the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was flying high with strong public support under then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 14, 2009

For Hatoyamas, politics is considered birthright

Often compared to the Kennedy family for the impressive list of lawmakers and scholars hailing from its ranks, the Hatoyama clan is one of the nation's most prominent political dynasties.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2009

DPJ-backed candidate wins Shizuoka

SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) Heita Kawakatsu, the candidate backed by the Democratic Party of Japan, was elected governor of Shizuoka in a close race Sunday, dealing yet another blow to the already struggling Prime Minister Taro Aso.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

With one budget OK'd and Aso planning another, when can poll be held?

With the fiscal 2009 budget and related bills safely passed, all eyes in Nagata-cho are trained on Prime Minister Taro Aso to see when he will dissolve the Lower House and call an election. But he is already pursuing an extra budget.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Aso set to lead LDP's last stand?

In 2007 it was Shinzo Abe. In 2008 it was Yasuo Fukuda and in 2009 it is Taro Aso.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2008

Precipitous drop in popularity

A Cabinet is said to have entered "dangerous waters" if its public approval rating sinks below 30 percent. Only 2 1/2 months after Mr. Taro Aso came into power, the approval rating for his Cabinet has fallen to 25.5 percent, a drop of 15.4 percentage points from November, according to a Kyodo News poll....
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2008

Key challenge: Keeping New Komeito on board

Although Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda finally managed to name his own Cabinet on Friday, the lineup appears subdued and reserved, just like him, critics say.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Afghan SDF mission constitutional, Ozawa says

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, said Wednesday the Self-Defense Forces' participation in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan would not violate the Constitution, contrary to the claims of the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition, which...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2007

'Shadow' leader Fukuda combative but seasoned

and Taro Aso raise their fists Saturday before officially registering for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on Sept. 23. KYODO PHOTOS
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2007

Exit should have come sooner: critics

For the Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resignation Wednesday was too long in coming, and regaining the public's trust will have to be the LDP's main objective from this point forward, critics said.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 5, 2007

Yosano calls on his fellow ministers to behave

In the aftermath of farm minister Takehiko Endo's resignation Monday, only a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his Cabinet, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano called on his colleagues to behave appropriately in their positions as government ministers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2007

Rightwingers lash out at absent ministers' 'lack of respect'

Rightwing activists and visitors at Yasukuni Shrine were quick Wednesday to protest the Cabinet's lack of "respect for the war dead" as all but one minister chose to steer clear of the contentious site.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2007

Popularity takes a tumble

The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hit a record low since he came into power last September. A telephone poll at the beginning of this month by Kyodo News shows that the support rate has sunk to 35.8 percent, a drop of 11.8 points from mid-May and a big slide from the...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2006

Watanabe named new reform chief

A day after one of his Cabinet members resigned over a political funding scandal, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday appointed Yoshimi Watanabe as the new administrative reform minister.
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2006

Political theater in town

In June 2001, the first government-sponsored town meeting under the initiative of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was held to promote direct dialogue between the people and Cabinet ministers. So far, there have been 174 such meetings. But a report by a Cabinet Office investigation panel shows that...

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