With victory in Sunday’s general election, Fumio Kishida has solidified his role as prime minister of Japan. While he can finally emerge from the shadows cast by the criticized COVID-19 response of his predecessor, Suga Yoshihide, he is also burdened with an ambitious mandate. His challenge will be to balance domestic economic reform with a foreign policy agenda for increased geopolitical influence in the Indo-Pacific as he aims to achieve the twin goals of peace and prosperity.
A ‘new capitalism’
Kishida’s pre-election announcement of a redistributive domestic economic policy that aims to close wealth disparities, grow the middle class and focus on small business, showed a different side of a man often portrayed as a solid, mild-mannered and pragmatic presence.… Seguir leyendo »
In late September, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo dissolved Japan’s House of Representatives and called a snap election. At the same time, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced the formation of the new Hope Party, which aimed to win enough seats to replace Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The next twists? The leader of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, disbanded his party and encouraged its candidates, many of them incumbents, to “apply” to run under the Hope banner. Unhappy with the Hope party’s requirements that they support its center-right platform on national security and constitutional revision, a group of Democratic Party incumbents then decided to form their own party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.… Seguir leyendo »
Alors que sa voisine, la Corée du Nord, devient de plus en plus belliqueuse, le Japon se lance dans une élection générale impromptue. Beaucoup questionnent la décision du premier ministre Shinzo Abe de dissoudre la Diète et de faire appel à la population. La décision paraît en effet très opportuniste.
Après un été qui avait vu la popularité de Shinzo Abe chuter en raison notamment de deux scandales de trafic d’influence, il avait réussi à redresser la barre grâce à un remaniement de son cabinet et surtout à sa capacité à utiliser la crise nord-coréenne pour se présenter comme un pilier de stabilité dans la tempête.… Seguir leyendo »
El pasado 14 de diciembre, los japoneses acudieron a las urnas para elegir a sus representantes en la cámara baja, unas votaciones que llegaron de manera abrupta y a media legislatura, fruto del cálculo político de Shinzo Abe y como respuesta a su forzada decisión de posponer la reforma fiscal. La “patada a seguir” del primer ministro fue una prueba más de su afinado instinto político, ya que sorprendió a la oposición –que aún carecía de un líder fuerte– y vino a respaldar su apuesta personal en materia económica, las medidas bautizadas como Abenomics y que en tres direcciones o flechas (expansión monetaria, incremento fiscal y reforma estructural) se proponen revitalizar la economía japonesa para sacarla de dos décadas de estancamiento.… Seguir leyendo »
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants a mandate. Apparently, the one he and his Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, or LDP, claimed less than two years ago wasn't enough. So, as his policy agenda faltered and his approval ratings plummeted, the Prime Minister called snap elections last month (less than half way through the Japanese Diet's term) to try to claim a vote of confidence from the public and crush dissenters who oppose his agenda.
Abe will almost certainly get his election victory; a mandate is another matter, however. The most notable outcomes of the December 14 ballot are likely to be apathy and cynicism, even if his party holds its majority in Parliament or -- as polls last week predicted -- increases it.… Seguir leyendo »
The Japanese have a term for hopelessness — shikata ga nai, “it can’t be helped.” Acceptance of things as they are is deeply embedded in the culture. It also explains why voters are so listless, and even despairing, in the run-up to the national election on Sunday.
Japan is in a recession. The popularity of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for all but four years since 1955, is plummeting. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called an early election to pre-empt the coalescing of an opposition that could threaten his party’s control of Parliament.
Mr. Abe says he wants to revive the long-stagnant economy, but his policies have been anything but clear.… Seguir leyendo »
The landslide victory of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in elections Sunday for the upper house of Japan’s Parliament immediately raised a question: Will it embolden Mr. Abe toward increasing nationalism that might further alienate Japan from some of its neighbors?
Mr. Abe’s party seeks to revise Japan’s Constitution to allow a full-fledged military, and he put in pre-election appearances in a tank, in a fighter plane and on an island near a chain that is the subject of a dispute with China.
But polls have overwhelmingly attributed his victory to his main campaign promise, which was to keep improving Japan’s economy, rather than to pursue a nationalist agenda.… Seguir leyendo »
There are no permanent victories in democratic politics and no permanent defeats. Thus, even as conservatives in the United States are working to find better ways to present our ideas in the 2014 and 2016 elections, we should pause a moment to celebrate some successes overseas.
The results of last month’s elections in South Korea and Japan show the two nations recognize the need for strong conservative principles to address growing security challenges and to lead the way for pragmatic economic solutions.
First to Tokyo, where Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party scored a sweeping victory in the election for Japan’s lower house of parliament.… Seguir leyendo »
Some revolutions bring about a dramatic change in government without general strikes or fierce street demonstrations. Such a revolution just took place in Japan, where half a century of almost uninterrupted conservative rule under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) abruptly ended with the recent elections. In its place, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will try to establish a European-style labor-party government.
DPJ-led governments will probably be in power for close to a decade, if not longer. It is unlikely that Japan will go socialist under the DPJ, though the party's largest source of support is the 6.8 million-member Rengo labor confederation.… Seguir leyendo »
Los estados de ánimo y las modas en Japón suelen llegar como tsunamis, tifones o aludes. Tras más de cincuenta años de poder casi ininterrumpido, el gobernante Partido Democrático Liberal (PDL) ha quedado sepultado en una elección general. Ya en 1993 hubo un cambio cuando una coalición de partidos de la oposición asumió el poder brevemente, pero el PDL aun así retuvo una mayoría en la poderosa Cámara Baja. Esta vez, hasta ese último bastión ha caído. El Partido Democrático de Japón (PDJ) de centroizquierda obtuvo más de 300 de las 480 escaños en la Cámara Baja. El PDL ya no gobierna.… Seguir leyendo »
Durante los años posteriores al fin de la guerra fría, Japón ha sorteado los vientos del fundamentalismo del mercado que ha liderado Estados Unidos y que se conoce usualmente como globalización. Aunque en ésta defiende que la libertad es el más alto de todos los valores, el capitalismo fundamentalista ha tratado a la gente no como un fin sino como un medio. Con lo que se ha perdido la dignidad humana.
La reciente crisis financiera, sin embargo, nos ha obligado a enfrentarnos a la realidad. ¿Cómo podemos acabar con el fundamentalismo de mercado y con el capitalismo financiero, que carecen de consideraciones morales, para proteger las finanzas y la forma de vida de nuestros ciudadanos?… Seguir leyendo »
The Economist spoke for most of the serious foreign press in welcoming the beginning of the election campaign. In an article entitled “Japan sees the light”, its anonymous journalist sounded a note of genuine excitement:
A revolution may indeed be taking place in Japan. First, the Liberal Democratic Party’s dominion is probably over. Second, and more important, the politics of Japan is changing because the people of Japan are changing ... the man in the noodle bar thinks he has subordinated his own interests to those of company and government for long enough.
Or, in the words of the Peter Finch character in the film Network: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.”… Seguir leyendo »
When the Japanese promise radical change, howling disappointment usually follows. “New” flavours of canned coffee or “epoch-making” tatami-mat cleaning products turn out to be only modestly ground-breaking.
In Japanese politics, where general election campaigning will begin any minute now, the phrase is an outright fraud. The last truly radical change in the Japanese political arena was in 1954 when grudgingly — and only after furious debate — they decided to put a ladies’ loo in the parliament building.
But all of a sudden, Japanese friends are saying “radical change” with an earnest glint in their eyes. Japan may be about to get its first entirely new government for 53 years, and the phrase no longer rings quite so hollow.… Seguir leyendo »
The recent upper-house elections in Japan served as a wakeup call for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. His party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), lost its upper-house majority for the first time since its establishment in 1955, making Abe vulnerable to political opponents who may seek to block important legislation and pressure him to call early lower-house elections.
Abe rode to power almost a year ago -- in September 2006, propelled by his pledge to continue the reformist policies of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. But it is one thing to pledge and another to perform. In 2005, Koizumi's then-stagnant poll numbers shot up by taking on the anti-reform barons in his own party opposed to the privatization of the postal system.… Seguir leyendo »
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