Shinzo Abe

North Korea May Help Abe’s Goal to Revise Japan’s Constitution: North Korea’s claim it conducted a nuclear test could give the newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to revise the mandate of the pacifist constitution of the country and legalize the right to defend itself. Abe returned yesterday from a two-day visit to China and South Korea, where he improved relations with Japan’s two largest Asian trading partners. All three countries have condemned the statement of the...Read Full Story

Asian politics Banyan's notebook Japan's upper-house election results A bad night for the DPJ by H.T. | TOKYO NAOTO KAN, Japan’s prime minister, who tried to convince voters that the country’s debt-ridden economy looked dangerously like Greece’s, now faces the fight of his life to stay in office after his party’s disastrous performance in upper-house elections on July 11th. Less than six weeks after Mr Kan took office, the odds of yet another leadership crisis have just shortened dramatically...Read Full Story

Yasukuni Shrine is the place where Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals are enshrined. Every year…every every year on/around Aug. 15th, Japanese leaders visit the shring to pay respects, much to the chagrin of Korea and China who suffered at the hands of those war dead. The visits threaten relationships, cause trips and plans to be cancelled and objections to be raised from around East Asia…and perhaps rightfully so. This year, none of the 16 cabinet members of Prime...Read Full Story

Japan's fickle politics make prime minister a tough job to hold on to. Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he would resign after just eight months, becoming the fourth prime minister to step down in as many years. A list of the most recent to serve: _ Junichiro Koizumi's five-year term made him one of the longest-serving prime ministers. The charismatic leader implemented economic reforms and tried to trim Japan's bloated budget during a gradual economic recovery. But he also increased tensions...Read Full Story

According to a new book , “Scoop” by Pascal Roustain, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan was explaining to President Bush the various ways a Japanese person would bow when meeting someone. He then got on his knees to prostrate himself before Bush in order to indicate this was the position the president wanted people to be in when conversing with him. If one considers how Bush reacted to those in America who dared opposing his political decisions, the prime minister’s position...Read Full Story