It’s been a great week for news and a busy, but good week in other respects as well. Unfortunately, the latter has made it difficult to put out a podcast on the former in as timely a fashion as we would have liked. We have recorded Seijigiri for September 27, 2006, though, and need only finish up the post-production to release it. Bear with us, it’s coming.

To tide you over, we have posted the news, some errata, and, most important, some big thank yous in these show notes.

In the news:

In the climax to a two-year legal and constitutional battle over Japan’s national anthem, Kimigayo, and national flag, the Hinomaru, the Tokyo District Court decided last Thursday that the Tokyo board of education (and, by extension, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro) acted unconstitutionally and illegally when it issued a notice in October 2003 requiring teachers to stand, face the flag, and sing Kimigayo at school ceremonies and punishing those who refused.

Several teachers disagreed with the policy on the grounds that the flag and national anthem, made official in 1999 after uninterrupted de facto use since the War, were symbols of Japan’s militaristic pre-War and wartime governments. Some refused to comply with the policy and were punished, in many cases losing their jobs.
DPJ leader Ozawa Ichiro was hospitalized on Monday for what, at first, appeared to be a serious ailment, but was in good enough health to show up for the House of Representatives Prime Ministerial vote, where he received the opposition Party’s 115 votes.

And a shocker yesterday. . .

Just kidding. Abe Shinzo was unanimously elected Prime Minister by Diet LDP and New Komeito members yesterday, a mere formality after his win, with 464 votes, in last week’s LDP presidential election, in which the only surprise was that he fell just short of the 70% he’d hoped for and that many observers thought he’d get.

Prime Minister Abe named a Cabinet of well-known polticians, many of whom were instrumental in his rise to power, thereby disappointing some observers who’d hoped he’d follow in Koizumi Junichiro’s footsteps by refusing to be beholden to the political machine of which he was, and apparently still is, a part.

Close ally Shiozaki Yasuhisa was named Cabinet Secretary and immediately set about his first task in that position: reading the roster of the new Cabinet.

As Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare: Abe’s campaign manager, Yanagisawa Hakuo.

In the roles of Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication; and State Minister of Financial Services and the cumbersomely-named Programs to Individuals a second chance, are Abe supporters Amari Akira, Suga Yoshihide, and Yamamoto Yuji, respectively.

Old-timers Ibuki Bunmei, Minister of Education; Omi Koji, Finance Minister; and Kyuma Fumio, in a reprise of his role as Director-General of the Defense Agency, continued the trend of the new Prime Minister taking care of those who have taken care of him.

Fuyushiba Tetsuzo represents the LDP’s coalition partner, the New Komeito, in the Cabinet as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, a position whose powers were changed by Koizumi’s reforms.

Abe’s election rival, second-place finisher Aso Taro, will stay on as Foreign Minister as he and the new Prime Minister seem to see eye-to-eye on a number of security and foreign affairs issues.

Doing as he had hoped, Abe began the construction of a US-style National Security Council, naming Koike Yuriko as National Security Advisor. He also named a North Korean Abductions Advisor, Nakayama Kyoko.

Ota Hiroko, an economist, is the only non-politician on the roster and, as State Minister in charge of Economic and Fiscal policy, rounds out the new Cabinet along with other LDP politicians.

Prime Minister Abe announced his Cabinet by saying that he had formed a Cabinet to create a beautiful nation and that he wanted to “make Japan a nation that is full of dynamism, opportunities, and kindness.”

The Cabinet-naming followed Abe’s naming of the new LDP leadership on Monday, which included many politicians who agree with his rather controversial views on history. By naming fellow Mori faction member Nakagawa Hidenao to the position of LDP Secretary-General, Abe broke a tradition of naming someone from another faction to the Party’s number two post, but followed a recent trend set by Koizumi when he named Abe himself to the post in September of 2003.

The new LDP leaderhsip will likely make it easy for Prime Minister Abe to succeed in his goal of passing legislation mandating that a more patriotic view of history be taught in schools.

Corrections:

Taiwan has good reason to want to see Japan in a permanent UN Security Council seat because they may well see Japan as a counterweight to the threat posed to them by the PRC.

Richard Armitage’s boss is not, and never has been, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He was Deputy Secretary of State under Secretaryof State Colin Powell and resigned his position on Novermber 16, 2004, the day after Powell resigned, leaving office in February 2005. Armitage is now on the Board of Directors of ConocoPhillips, the oil company, which would mean his bosses are shareholders. Thanks to Jimmy Ridley of Charlotte, North Carolina for pointing out our BIG error.

Thanks to Dr. Robert C. Angel, who runs the Japan Considered project at the University of South Carolina for mentioning Seijigiri in his weekly podcast and for answering some questions we had. Japan Considered is a fine podcast and a source nonpareil for good information and solid, professional analysis of current events in Japanese politics. We highly recommend it. Go there now, learn something. (But do remember us, please.)

Thanks also to Scott Lockman, who produces Japan’s First Podcast, Tokyo Calling, for giving us a mention. Tokyo Calling is a well-balanced mix of current events, travelogue, and anything else Mr. Lockman thinks of tied together with his musings on what it all means. Well worth a listen.