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Japan Archive
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DPJ Faces Defeat in Polls
Japan’s ruling party Democratic Party of Japan faced the prospect of political gridlock Monday as bad losses in weekend parliamentary elections undermine its attempts to reduce the second-largest economy’s ballooning budget deficit and revive growth. The DPJ won only 44 out of 242 seats — far below its stated goal of 54. The shattering defeat results [...] -
New Japanese PM to be Sworn In
New centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet are due to formally take over the Japanese government on Tuesday with their swearing in by Emperor Akihito. Mr Kan replaced Yukio Hatoyama last week, who stepped down after apologising for breaking an election pledge to move a US airbase off Okinawa island and for political [...] -
Japan’s Hatoyama Steps Down over Base Row
According to national broadcaster NHK, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will announce his resignation at an emergency plenary meeting of ruling party lawmakers later today. Hatoyama’s broken campaign promise to move a US Marine base off Okinawa caused protests to erupt and approval ratings for the Democratic Party of Japan to drop severely. This announcement comes [...] -
China Neglects to Censure North Korea at Summit
The tragic sinking of the Cheonan dominated the recent tri-nation summit held in South Korea, a conference originally meant to discuss trade relations. Resisting pressure from South Korean and Japanese leaders during two days of talks, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China gave no indication that his government was ready to join in reproaching North [...] -
Japan PM Visits Okinawa in Attempt to Appease Protestors
Embattled premier Yukio Hatoyama is scheduled to visit Okinawa island to resolve a damaging row over an unpopular US airbase that has strained ties with Washington for months. He hopes to appease the mass protesters by presenting a new plan to end the dispute which has damaged his support ratings ahead of upcoming summer elections. [...] -
Protestors Gather in Okinawa Against US Base
Nearly 100,000 demonstrators gathered in Okinawa on Sunday to rally for a long-term US air base to shift off the island. This dispute is one of the largest in years, and is driving a large wedge between Tokyo-Washington relations. Protestors signaled warnings toward Prime Minister Hatoyama by dressing in yellow, reminding him of the promise he [...] -
NYT: In Japan, US losing diplomatic ground to China
The New York Times gives an overview report today on the recent straining of US-Japan relations and concurrent thawing of China-Japan relations. Since last year’s election, there have been a flurry of diplomatic visits between China and Japan. The Yoimuri Shimbun even cited an anonymous diplomatic source that said there could [...] -
China, Japan tensions flare over natural gas
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Japanese countepart Katsuya Okada met Sunday to further promote China-Japan relations, but what made headlines was a spat over disputed boundary claims in the East China Sea. In his talks with Yang, the Japanese foreign minister said that Tokyo would take “action” if China violated a 2008 agreement over [...] -
China, Japan, South Korea sign memorandum on food safety
TOKYO: Health ministers from Japan, China and South Korea agreed on Monday to step up efforts to ensure food safety following concerns over pesticide-tainted Chinese dumplings. Japanese Health Minister Akira Nagatsuma, his Chinese counterpart Chen Zhu and South Korean health chief Jeon Jae-Hee signed their first joint memorandum on food safety after a meeting in Tokyo, [...] -
Japan in the spotlight in the lead-up to APEC 2009 Singapore
BY PETER DRYSDALE - When the 21 APEC leaders get together at their summit in Singapore next month, the spotlight will be on Japan and its new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. For one thing, this year is the twentieth anniversary of the birth of APEC in Canberra, in 1989. APEC is the child of a remarkable Japanese and Australian diplomatic initiative [...].
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