Comment by Alex

January 12, 2007 @ 6:28 am

Love it! It has that je ne sai quois of an insurance ad with a bit of pirates of the caribbean mixed in.

They aren’t looking to win, they’re looking to shore up support and increase their popular vote. If Abe continues to slide, they might do just that.

Comment by Ken Y-N

January 12, 2007 @ 9:25 am

Is that 生活維新 supposed to be some sort of echo of 明治維新? If it is, why? Perhaps there might be an interesting story behind the phrase?

Oh, and I can only laugh when I see it on the telly. Surely someone must have by now remixed it into something even more entertaining.

Alex: Don’t know about Pirates of the Carribean - looks more like the The Crimson Permanent Assurance pirate short from the Meaning of Life!

Comment by Ken Worsley

January 12, 2007 @ 11:08 am

Ken, I thought of that connection as well - but I wasn’t sure if I was reaching. Now I think there must be something there.

Comment by DeOrio

January 12, 2007 @ 11:20 am

There’s so much there. It’s even more symbolic than the DPJ probably wanted it to be. Ozawa can’t steer the ship, Kan and Hatoyama have to prop him up while pulling the strings.
The LDP is so ripe for some classic attack ads, it’s a shame we won’t see them. Anyone want to make a private group with me to make such ads? Is the permissible?

Comment by Ken Worsley

January 12, 2007 @ 12:00 pm

Well, I don’t see why they can’t be made and put on YouTube…it would be funny. Could be the 日本外党。

Comment by Alex

January 13, 2007 @ 12:00 am

Don’t know about Pirates of the Carribean - looks more like the The Crimson Permanent Assurance pirate short from the Meaning of Life!
Great reference Ken Y-N…

I agree Mister Deorio. Indeed the LDP is just asking for an American style attack ad campaign. But I think that would be counter productive at this point. They need to re-introduce themselves.

When is Abe forced to call an election? What is the maximum term a Prime Minister can have in Japan?

Comment by DeOrio

January 13, 2007 @ 2:42 am

I’m not sure offhand about term limits for a PM. Are there any? LDP presidents are limited to two three-year terms, though. (It was changed from two-year terms under Koizumi.) So, in effect, six years would be the limit for a PM.
Ken and I were talking about this the other day. Elections have to be called once every six years. The point on which I’m a little unclear is whether or not having elections before the six-year marks resets the clock for the House of Representatives and, hence, the PM. It seems that it does, but I’m not 100% sure.

Comment by Alex

January 13, 2007 @ 11:53 am

I was curious about that myself. Koizumi had a very long run compared to others. There is an excellent database for this here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_
of_Japan

But indeed I am curious to know how the DPJ if they wanted to could force a vote. And does the House of Representatives have the right to call an election at any juncture or do they have to wait until the six years or three years are nearing end?

Comment by Ken Worsley

January 13, 2007 @ 1:18 pm

The DPJ would have to pull off a no-confidence vote, which they don’t have the backing for.

Comment by Adamu

January 13, 2007 @ 2:49 pm

The matter of who I support for Japan’s prime minister depends entirely on who has the awesomest media presentation, and right now it’s a tie between Taro Aso’s sumo diplomacy and the DPJ’s series of insane advertisements (I recall a creepy one with Ozawa talking to a dog from a little while back). I look forward more entertaining political showmanship in the upcoming year.

Comment by DeOrio

January 13, 2007 @ 5:38 pm

So are you a Hatoyama fan? Slashing the veins and arteries of corruption from the back of a pegasus preceded by going after Koizumi with a sword is pretty hard to top from a sheer audacity standpoint.
With his requiring Foreign Ministry staff to study manga, is Aso moving up in the rankings?

Comment by Alex

January 14, 2007 @ 6:28 am

I think Aso is becoming more and more popular with the general public but not with within the party. Though he still has no where near the support he would need for a leadership opportunity. His own party doesn’t know how to deal with him. But one can’t deny he certainly is one of the most interesting people in Japanese politics today.

Comment by Ken Worsley

January 14, 2007 @ 3:24 pm

Garrett, you just reminded me that I should try to rip those flash movies off Hatoyama’s site while they’re still there…

Comment by DeOrio

January 14, 2007 @ 8:11 pm

Done and done. Good idea, Ken.

Aso is certainly interesting, but I can think of few political occurrences in Japan that would scare me more than an Aso premiership.

Comment by Alex

January 15, 2007 @ 12:17 am

How about a Ishihara premiership ?

Comment by DeOrio

January 15, 2007 @ 2:20 am

Ooh. That’s tough. There are so many bad choices that are in leadership positions.
I’d list an Aso premiership as higher on my worry list mainly because it’s a lot more likely than seeing Ishihara in a national position.

Comment by Alex

January 15, 2007 @ 11:11 am

True, Aso has a shot. It could never happen though simply because the implication for peace in asia would be destroyed and the members of the Diet know it.

But you gotta admit, it would certainly turn things on its ear.

Pingback by Mutantfrog Travelogue » Blog Archive » Amazingly weird DPJ commercial gets party leaders in trouble at annual convention

January 17, 2007 @ 1:49 am

[…] You can watch the aforementioned waste right here (courtesy transpacificradio) You can tell it makes no sense even if you don’t understand Japanese: […]

Comment by Curzon

January 17, 2007 @ 8:39 am

When is Abe forced to call an election? What is the maximum term a Prime Minister can have in Japan?

By law, elections must be held at least every four years for the lower house of the Diet*, which means the next election must be held by September 2009 at the latest. There are no legal term limits for PMs; internal party rules are the only limits on how long a cabinet (i.e. PM) can serve.

*=every three years for the Upper House, with each member serving six years and the elections staggered).

Comment by Ken Worsley

January 17, 2007 @ 9:11 am

Thanks Curzon - I’ve been looking around for term limits and haven’t found anything in E/J, so I was kind of assuming that party rules were the only limits, but didn’t want to be wrong on that.

Ok, time to get all the different party limits (why do I have the suspicion that they’re not all that different?)