Seijigiri #16 - January 23, 2007 - Abe’s Diet session opens this Thursday: How will he build the beautiful country?
Shinzo Abe’s new job as Prime Minister of Japan will take a big turn in the upcoming week. The ordinary session of the Diet opens this Thursday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to lay out his vision in a speech on Friday. Garrett and Ken have singled out seven items that could become the cornerstones of Mr Abe’s first regular session of the Diet as a Prime Minister. The seven items that might form the crux of his program include:
- Education reform
- Constitutional reform
- Pressure on North Korea
- Strengthening security ties with the United States
- Moving toward a bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council
- Proposing ways to tackle the nation’s declining birth rate
- Setting up a US-style national security council
Seijigiri looks at what Mr Abe might and might not prove successful at, as well as makes a few predictions for the upcoming Diet session.
Blogs and sites mentioned in this podcast:
Mutant Frog Travelogue: Amazingly weird DPJ commercial gets party leaders in trouble at annual convention by Adam Richards
Tokyo Calling: Japan’s first podcast by Scott Lockman
From the inside, looking in by Shin Fukushige
Japan Probe
Errata: Unfortunately, I referred to America’s former ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, as “Tom Bolton.” We did not catch the error in time to correct it. Red Sox fans in the audience might recognize Tom Bolton as a former Sox lefthander who pitched for us from 1987-1992, before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Billy Hatcher. Overall a mediocre pitcher, Bolton did go 10-5 with a 3.38 ERA in 1990. Of course, the man he was traded for, Billy Hatcher, had his most famous moment as a Red Sox in 1993, when he stole home at a game I watched from the first base side seats in Fenway Park; thus, there is a connection from TPR to Tom Bolton, tenuous as it may be. We regret the error - Ken.
Related Posts:
- Seijigiri #24: Abe’s approval ratings bounce back, what’s being done in the Diet, and the foreign trainee program
- Seijigiri #46: Diet Session Ends, Fukuda’s Future, and the Future of Immigration
- Seijigiri #41: The Budget is Passed, and Fukuda is Feeling the Pressure
- Seijigiri #39: MSDF back to the Indian Ocean, Pensions, Consumer Affairs and the end of the 2007 Diet Session (Finally!)
- Seijigiri #27 - The Final Night of the Diet Session, Alberto Fujimori, and Defense
