TPR News: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Abe, abductions, education, DoCoMo and a shareholder revolt
In this edition of TPR News, we look at Shinzo Abe’s recent meeting with Japan’s returned abductees from North Korea, LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa’s recent comments to the cabinet, Scott Callon’s shareholder revolt, a tieup between McDonald’s and DoCoMo, and a short roundup of the Japan blog scene.
Politics
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with five of Japan’s repatriated abductees and promised them that he would continue to pressure North Korea to resolve the issue. Japan and North Korea are set to begin their first round of bilateral talks in mid-March, with the top of Japan’s agenda being the return of all persons abducted to North Korea. Japan officially claims that 17 of its citizens have been abducted to the reclusive state. North Korea has claimed that 13 were abducted, five returned and the remaining eight are dead, and thus the issue is resolved.
Abe, who has made the return of all abductees one of the platforms of his administration, met with the five returnees for the first time since coming to office in October of last year. In a move to seemingly add a harder line to the upcoming bilateral negotiations, Abe has said that Japan will insist that North Korea hand over two former intelligence officials who are suspected of having instructed an operative to abduct Kaoru and Yukiko Hasuike in 1978. The Hasuike’s are amongst the five people who have been repatriated to Japan since North Korea admitted their kidnapping.
Newsweek, in a recent piece entitled “The Good Son Falters,” has joined the chorus of international media who are chiming in with scratch-the-surface pieces on Mr Abe’s plummeting approval ratings. Newsweek hints that Mr Abe is set to run into trouble in the upcoming local elections in April, stating:
The prime minister has pushed for a grand educational reform to boost patriotism, but his constituents think more about large class sizes and plummeting test scores. Abe’s conservative agenda may resonate with his right-wing base, but it won’t get him through two electoral tests he faces in the months ahead. “[Local party members] don’t talk about the Constitution,” concedes LDP spokeswoman Satsuki Katayama. They are focused instead on bringing money and jobs to their constituencies, she says.
The piece begins and ends with the idea that Mr Abe cannot control his cabinet or advisers, who are, “young and inexperienced.” Addressing the apparent lack of control over the cabinet, on Sunday, February 18, LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa, while speaking in Sendai, said, “The politicians who make their own benefits their top priority should leave the Cabinet and the Prime Minister’s Office. Cabinet members and bureaucrats are required to show absolute loyalty to the prime minister and have a self-sacrificing spirit.”
Mr Nakagawa’s words further fueled the speculation that a cabinet re-shuffle could be in the works before the Upper House election coming up in July. Five days prior to Mr Nakagawa’s comment, while on a visit to India, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori not only named names, but pointed some fingers, saying trouble has been caused because:
In particular, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Finance Minister Koji Omi, who are older and have been elected to the Diet more than the prime minister, don’t show a sincere attitude of support for the prime minister. It led to the Cabinet causing problems.
Those problems have involved a series of gaffes, scandals involving finances and public housing, public expressions of opinion contrary to government positions, and even, in Mr Aso’s case, an apparent behind the scenes deal with former Finance Minister Sadaharu Tanigaki to make a move on Mr Abe’s position.
Mr Mori did not mention Education Minister Ibuki Bunmei as a Problem Minister, but he may have to update his list: While speaking at an LDP party convention on Sunday in Nagasaki, Mr Bunmei found it an apt cirsumstance to declare that:
Japan has been historically governed by the Yamato (Japanese) race. Japan is an extremely homogenous country. In its long, multifaceted history, Japan has been governed by the Japanese all the way.
Such statements have generated criticism in the past, notably when uttered by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1986 and by current Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who in 2005 made the nearly laughable pronouncement that Japan is: “one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race, the like of which there is no other on this earth.”
While Mr Ibuki (the Education Minister) was out grandstanding in Nagasaki on Sunday, the Central Council for Education met in Tokyo to discuss the nuts and bolts of reforms planned for the nation’s education. The council met, at the request of the Education Ministry, to discuss bills to revise the School Education, Educational Personnel Certification and Local Education Administration laws. The ministry’s aim is to create a new system to periodically renew teachers’ licenses and establish new positions in Japan’s schools, including vice principal and other special teachers. Some council members apparently questioned the education minister’s involvement in the appointment of the heads of prefectural boards of education, saying such a policy would run counter to the spirit of transferring central government authority to local governments. The ministry plans to submit the bills to the diet in March.
Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, whose comments that the US was wrong to have invaded Iraq were delivered one month ago, has said, “It was inconsiderate of me to say such a thing on the day (Bush) delivered his State of the Union address.” Kyuma appears to have taken Mr Nagagawa’s exhortations to heart, stating: “Even though these were my personal views, I should have taken greater care…I keep telling myself that since I am a Cabinet minister, I must make my comments properly in accordance with the government position.”
Kyodo News is reporting that 69 Cabinet ministers and other politicians with Cabinet-level functions declared nearly 40 million yen on average as recurring expenses for their fund control bodies in 2005. Such transactions, which do not require receipts in political funding reports, have come under scrutiny since since it came to light in December that a political group of then administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata claimed expenses for a fictitious office. Sata subsequently resigned from his Cabinet post. Leading the current group is Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who topped the list with a reported 114.26 million yen in recurring expenses.
Finally, in a recent editorial letter to the Los Angeles Times, Consul General of Japan Kodama Kazuo, responding to criticisms of Japan’s post-war treatment of its wartime actions, has written:
Japan has apologized for past actions of aggression many times. Our textbooks teach of the damage and suffering inflicted on neighboring countries by Japan before and during World War II. To face the past squarely, Japan and China have started joint research of history by Japanese and Chinese scholars.
Business
Write the name Scott Callon in your Japanese history book. That way, you’ll know the correct answer when someone asks you, “Who led Japan’s first successful shareholder revolt?” On Thursday, Mr Callon, the CEO of Ichigo Asset Management in Tokyo, led Japan’s first successful shareholder revolt, by forcing a vote blocking the takeover of Tokyo Kotetsu by Osaka Steel, a subsidiary of Nippon Steel, after arguing that it offered no incentive to investors. Mr Callon, who is also the author of 1995’s “Divided Sun: MITI and the Breakdown of Japanese High-Tech Industrial Power,” used his firm’s position as a 12.6 percent owner of Tokyo Kotetsu to argue that the takeover, which had been approved by the board of directors of both firms, involved an unfair share swap ratio. It has been reported that Callon’s actions led to the first time ever for shareholders in Japan to reject a merger plan already approved by the board of directors of both companies.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, NTT DoCoMo and McDonald’s Japan announced a business tie-up that will involve electronic payment systems based on DoCoMo’s Osaifu-Keitai™ e-wallet services. According to the press release:
The undertaking will include the establishment of a joint venture company to plan and manage e-marketing promotions to McDonald’s newly planned membership club, and the introduction of DoCoMo’s iD™ platform for mobile-phone credit cards and ToruCa™ information-capture service at McDonald’s stores.
And, for those who have been waiting for a decision: The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology has decided to introduce guidelines requiring the disposal of frozen sperm stored for reproductive treatment after the death its donor. According to the Yomiuri, “The draft guidelines presented Saturday also ban DNA tests, including prenatal paternity tests, that are not conducted for medical purposes, unless courts request such tests.”
Russian energy minister Viktor Khristenko and Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso met in Tokyo this week, promising to strengthen reciprocal relations in oil and natural gas development and boost trade. According to Bloomberg, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two ministers discussed oil and gas projects in Russia’s Sakhalin island and an East Siberian oil pipeline project. In a telephone interview, Hidetoshi Shioda, senior energy analyst at Mizuho Securities, said, “Japan should expand oil and gas imports from Russia. Cutting dependence on Middle East means mitigating risks of any supply disruption in the region in the years ahead.'’
During a regular press conference on February 23, MOFA Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi, when asked if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be making a much-rumored visit to Russia by the end of 2007, responded: “That still remains a rumor I cannot confirm.”
On the corporate recruiting front, A recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll of 30 major corporations has come to the conclusion that there is “a positive approach to recruitment in the corporate sector.” Mitsui Sumitomo Bank and Sony intend to hire more new graduates in the coming two years, while Mitsui Trading will hire new recruits for the first time in 2007, abandoning its policy of only hiring mid-career workers with relevant experience. Mitsui also plans to, “Recruit about 30 mid-career workers - a 150 percent increase on its spring 2007 figure.”
The small coastal town of Taiji is currently conducting its annual dolphin hunt. Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, said that 16,000-17,000 dolphins are killed on average in the hunt every year, but other sources have put the figure over 20,000. Yoji Kita, chairman of Taiji’s education committee, said, “We kill dolphins because we need them to live.” He also added that the fishermen make an effort to shorten the dolphins’ suffering. Video of the dolphin hunt, and the practices employed therein, can be viewed here at Trans-Pacific Radio.
Society/Blog Roundup
Human rights activist Debito Arudo is in Tokyo for a round of lectures, including yesterday’s luncheon at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan with UN Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene. You can view a schedule of his appearances at his blog. Debito has graciously offered to sit down with Trans-Pacific Radio for an interview, which will take place this coming Sunday and be published as part of our Seijigiri series of audio programs.
What Japan Thinks has recently published two interesting translations of opinion polls from Japan. First is an item on the popularity of various social networking sites, which finds that MySpace Japan really isn’t capturing much market share at all. The second translated item is a survey of mobile phone companies, which finds that DoCoMo is perceived as being the most reliable, AU as the most technologically advanced, and…you get the point, go to the site and read it!
Mutant Frog/Roy Berman of the Mutant Frog Travelogue has made a noble attempt to track down the earliest English language usage of the term ‘comfort women’ in the media. Interesting stuff, very worth a read.
Global Talk 21 is another blog that has been recently added to our (glacially) extending list of links. A recent post entitled If the Meal Money for His Daughter Is the Only Thing Plaguing Mr. Omi, Then There’s a Long Line of Politicians Who’d Love to Take His Place caught my eyes. Jun Okumura, the blog’s author, is a veteran of both MITI and METI, fully fluent in English, and smarter than you, me and a lot of other people put together. Interested in independent thought on Japanese politics? You’re about to find a site you’ll like.
Observing Japan is another site that has been recently added to our links, and we enjoy it very much. According to the site maintainer, “Authored by an American on the staff of a leading DPJ member in the Upper House, Observing Japan looks at Japanese politics, especially as it pertains to Japanese foreign and security policy, US-Japan relations, and East Asian international relations.” I found this recent article on Abe’s relationship with the North Korean abduction issue to be right up my alley, and way too good for the mainstream media/intellectual scene.
Japan Probe contributor Claytonian has recently posted a vlog entry on racism in Japan that has made it to the most-commented and most-viewed lists on You Tube. It’s worth a look.
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