More Albrecht! More Ken! More Garrett, whether you like it or not. With so many brilliant ideas flying around, we know you’ll want to catch every one. To this end, we’ve slaved away to produce these here show notes.

(Intro: Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain on piano. We thought it gave both a silent movie-house feel and a 1940s radio suspense feel to the resumption of #3’s cliffhanger.)

The news (almost verbatim):

New Komeito chief Kanzaki Takenori said he has decided to step down on September 30^th, when his his term as Chief Party Representative expires. Ota Akihiro, the acting Secretary General, is expected to succeed Kanzaki. No other candidates are expected to enter their names in the Party’s leadership election on September 26^th.

Ota has said he, “Would like to emphasize the color of New Komeito and tackle internal and external issues.”

Just as concretely, the Party’s policy and action plans, to be adopted at a September 30^th convention, call for improved ties with China and South Korea.

On Saturday, Finance Minister Tanigaki Sadakazu also said that he would step down from his current position – in his case if, as expected, he fails in his bid to become the next leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. Tanigaki has said that it would be impossible for him to remain on as Finance Minister because, “My views on fiscal policy are different from those of the one who is expected to win.”

“The one who is expected to win,” of course being Abe Shinzo, who, along with the Liberal Democratic Party, was sued by 193 residents of Suginami Ward in Tokyo over allegedly illegally interfering in the Ward’s textbook approval process by pushing for the adoption of a textbook whitewashing Japan’s role in World War II. The plaintiffs seek a total 386,000 yen, that’s right, 2,000 yen per person, and, perhaps more important, a public apology.

And also on Saturday, Police raided 26 Aum Shinrikyo centers in 17 prefectures throughout Japan after former leader Asahara Shoko’s death sentence was confirmed. Aum, as our listeners may remember, is the cult responsible for the 1994 sarin gas attack in the city of Matsumoto as well as the deadly March 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo Subway system.

Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos of California’s 12^th District and ranking member of the House International Relations Committee joined the Yasukuni debate on Friday with this memorable quote: “My message to the incoming Japanese prime minister is very simple: Paying one’s respects to war criminals is morally bankrupt and unworthy of a great nation such as Japan. This practice must end.”

This, in addition to Henry Hyde’s concerns over Koizumi’s visits to Yasukuni, which resulted in the Prime Minister visiting Graceland with George Bush instead of addressing a joint session of Congress, shows that the US Congress is joining Japan’s neighbors in their disapproval of the LDP’s method of addressing or not addressing Japan’s role in World War II. Perhaps this bit of gai-atsu will have a greater impact.

Ken and Garrett’s discussion:

They talk about the impact of the Yasukuni complaints coming from the US House of Representatives. The Yushukan museum at Yasukuni depicts Japan as attempting to protect Asia from Western imperialism. The victors write the history books, but Japan didn’t get the memo.

The San Francisco Treaty of 1952 protects Japan from war reparations, Ken and Garrett disagree over what the result of civil suits will be.

Discussion with Albrecht Stahmer, continued:

Ken says Japan and China and Japan and South Korea have to talk about Yasukuni at the highest levels, but Garrett doesn’t think that’s in the interests of Japan’s neighbors, who have an unambiguous stance on Yasukuni.

Albrecht thinks Japan has to do decide first what Yasukuni means domestically. Garrett points out the lack of press aggression in Japan, which would allow the issue to disappear.

Ken points out the three way debate that occurred in the LDP election race, even though the public cannot vote and sees it as a step towards greater repreentative democracy. The debate was largely public relations, though.

Garrett thinks the point of the debate was just to keep Aso and Tanigaki’s profiles high.

Albrecht notes that many Japanese support Koizumi’s visits to Yasukuni, but haven’t been there. He and Garrett think this is because people are worried about China. Ken compares it to visiting Lexington and Concord, the Liberty Bell, or the Statue of Liberty, meaning that people need not visit Yasukuni to hold strong opinions on it.

Albrecht sees the rise of Yasukuni as a conroversial issue as a recent development.

Nakasone, in 1985, and Koizumi, in 2001 - 2006 visited as sitting PMs and signed in in an official capacity, morning dress and all. Abe also visited Yasukuni, although the visit was somewhat secretive.

Garrett says that signing the guestbook, and signing it as the PM, is a clear sign that those visits were not entirely private.

The Japanese press keeps the public in the dark, releasing facts and information about political events long after the fact.

The Japanese government seems to want to micromanage public perception, there’s not enough dirt-digging in political coverage of Japanese politics.

Koizumi’s great hair leads the gang to talking about his strong personality and his importance, as an individual, to his reforms. Will Abe be as forceful?

Ken thinks Koizumi’s dissolution of the lower house showed “nuts.”

How beholden will Abe be to the Mori faction? Koizumi withdrew from the Mori faction. Abe has used the specter of his late father to push his own candidacy.

Koizumi groomed Abe for the job. Once Fukuda dropped out, there’s been no doubt about Abe’s position as the next PM.

Closing words: Ken thinks Abe needs to go to the RoK and PRC and really try to balance domestic opinion with an improvement in foreign relations. Garrett thinks Abe can and should just let the Yasukuni controversy issue die out. Albrecht thinks he ought to lead and take the issue head on.

(Closing: A late 1940s comedic ditty mocking “Tokyo Rose” over her conviction for treason.)