In this edition of TPR News, we look at the second round of local elections, the state of Japan’s Upper House leading into July’s elections, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts at constitutional reform, his upcoming visit to Washington, defense matters concerning the US and Japan, taxi fares, domestic violence laws, and an excellent new resource on Japan’s legal system.

TPR News is generously supported by O-Creative.

Breaking News

A verdict in the Lucie Blackman case has just been announced. Kyodo News is reporting that defendant Joji Obara has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and drugging nine women, and causing the death of one. Obara, however, has been acquitted of all charges involving the death of Lucie Blackman.

Politics

In the second round of local elections held on Sunday, Makoto Yokoo, the son-in-law of murdered incumbent Itcho Ito and reporter for the local daily Nishinippon Shimbun, was defeated by former Nagasaki municipal office employee Tomihisa Taue in the race for mayor of Nagasaki. Both men, who submitted their candidacy paperwork the day after the former mayor was shot and killed outside of JR Nagasaki Station, ran as independents.

Two Upper House (House of Councillors) seats were also up for grabs in by-elections held in Okinawa and Fukushima. In Okinawa, former Naha Municipal Assembly member Aiko Shimajiri, who was backed by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, won a narrow victory over Yoshimasa Karimata, who had been backed by the Democratic Party of Japan, Japanese Communist Party, Social Democratic Party and People’s New Party. Karimata formerly served as the head of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation’s Okinawa prefectural chapter. Voter turnout in Okinawa was at an all-time low. Although she was backed by the ruling coalition, Shimajiri will serve in the Upper House as an independent.

In Fukushima, Democratic Party of Japan candidate Teruhiko Mashiko handily defeated Isamu Yamaguchi, who was backed by the LDP and New Komeito. Placing a distant third was Shitsui Miyamoto, a former Fukushima Municipal Assembly member who was backed by the Japan Communist Party. The victor in the Fukushima race, Teruhiko Mashiko, is a graduate of Tokyo’s Waseda University and is no stranger to Nagatacho: He formerly served three terms in the Lower House (the House of Representatives), and has also lost four lower house elections.

With the by-elections over, seats in the Upper House are now distributed amongst the parties as follows:

Liberal Democratic Party: 109
Democratic Party of Japan-Shin-Ryokufukai coalition: 83
New Komeito: 24
Japan Communist Party: 9
Social Democratic Party-Goken Rengo: 6
People’s New Party: 4
Independent: 5
Vacant: 2

Thus, out of 242 seats in the Upper House, the LDP-New Komeito coalition currently holds 133, or 11 more than is needed to secure a majority (not including sympathetic independent members).

In reaction to the election results, LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa told reporters on Monday that “Since both [Okinawa and Fukushima] were opposition seats, the significance of winning the Okinawa seat is great. We would like to make this result as a springboard for the upper house election.” The Secretary General also acknowledged that his party would have to win more support from unaffiliated voters in the lead-up to July’s general Upper House election. Nakagawa described his strategy for winning public support by saying, “We’ll gain understanding and support by making our policies appealing, such as building a ‘beautiful country.’”

Yukio Hatoyama, Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan, said, “In Fukushima, we have issued a severe message: The government should aim to close gaps in society in a more proactive manner and take action to correct the problem…It’s too bad that we’ve won just one [seat]. we’ll use the frustration as a springboard to solidify the party for victory in the Upper House election.”

The Prime Minister

The likelihood of success for Prime Minister Abe’s goal of having a bill passed to set the procedures governing national referendums to amend the Constitution by Constitution Day on May 3rd looks slim. Deliberations on the bill, however, have been progressing with little trouble, and it is expected to become law sometime in May.

Late last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave two interviews to the US media from his official residence in Tokyo. Abe spoke with reporters from both Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal just five days before he is due to arrive in Washington for his first visit as Prime Minister to the White House. Although the media focused on Abe’s comments surrounding the so-called ‘comfort women’ issue, his more concrete comments came in reply to questions concerning Japan’s plans for future defense spending. Abe said that Japan has no plans to increase defense spending in reply to a military buildup in China that Japan’s own Defense Ministry considers a top threat to stability in the region.

As China continues with double-digit annual increases in defense expenditure, Abe urged for more transparency in the spending and remarked that Japan has cut its annual defense spending for five consecutive years, including a 0.3% cut for the financial year beginning this past April 1. Abe also stressed that US presence in the region is essential to both military and economic security, and that he would like to build a “relationship of trust” with US President George W Bush.

Defense, of course, will be high on the agenda when the two leaders meet. On April 16, The US, Japan and India conducted a three-nation naval exercise dubbed TRILATEX 07 that involved the US 7th Fleet, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces and India’s naval forces. Two U.S. Navy Aegis-equipped destroyers (the USS John McCain and the USS Mustin), Two Indian Navy destroyers (INS Mysore and INS Kuthar) and one depot ship (INS Jyoti), and four destroyers from the Maritime Self-Defence Forces (JS Ikazuchi, JS Takanami, JS Kirishima and JS Murasame) took part in the six hour exercise of the coast of Chiba. India’s Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral R. K. Dhowan described the operation as the joining of, “the most powerful democracy, the most populous democracy and the most prosperous democracy.” (We’re sure of which one is the most populous…)

China’s People’s Daily commented: “It is absolutely not new for Japan and the U.S. to sit down and plot conspiracies together but it is rather intriguing to get India involved.” The paper left out the small detail that on the very same day, India’s INS Rana and INS Ranjit conducted naval exercises with the People’s Liberation Army Navy Northern Sea Fleet off the eastern coast of China.

With the recent exercises fresh in mind, and as the Indian navy also sails off to join in joint exercises with Russia, Abe aims to tell Bush that Japan intends fulfill its responsibilities in taking part in the rebuilding of Iraq. On Tuesday, Abe told reporters, “The Japan-U.S. alliance is invaluable. I want to deepen and widen the alliance…I want to address the importance of the cooperation between Japan and the U.S. and the international community.”

In terms of cooperation, Japan would also like some assistance with upgrading its current fleet of fighter jets, which consists of 60 F-4 fighters, which have not been in active production since 1981. Japan is reportedly interested in purchasing F-22A stealth fighters and F-15FX fighters, despite the fact that the U.S. Congress has placed a ban on exports of the F-22. Seemingly in an effort to have that ban lifted, Japanese defense officials have publicly mulled whether or not to purchase their future fighters from a European power.

On Monday, the Asahi Shimbun reported that Abe stated, “He will ask Bush when they meet in Washington to take a stronger stance against Pyongyang and will urge the United States to carefully consider the abduction issue before taking North Korea off its list of terror-sponsoring nations.”

Business, Economy and Society

Taxi operators in Tokyo want to raise their fares, but Economic Minister and member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy Hiroko Ota stands in the way. Taxi companies say that higher fuel costs have made it impossible for them to raise wages for their drivers. Taxi fares, however, are decided in conjunction with the government, and especially the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Minister Ota says that Taxi operators have yet to prove that they can run efficiently enough to justify raising their fares.

Late last week, it was announced that sales at Japan’s department stores were down 1.5% in March when compared to March of 2006. The Japan Department Stores association blamed unseasonable weather for the sluggish sales and also announced that nationwide, the number of people employed at department stores was 3.3% higher than a year ago.

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said he would be “very surprised” if any breakthrough on US beef were to take place during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the US next week. The US beef industry is pushing hard to get this item placed on the agenda for the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington.

Thinking about writing a will in Japan? Considering the pros and cons of the various forms of company formation in Japan? Or thinking about selling your exiting company? If any of these apply to you, make your way over to the Japan Law Blog, where Joe Jones is creating a wonderful resource of information on Japan’s legal system, and read up on these topics.

Speaking of law, according to Japan’s current statutes, a court may only issue a restraining order to a domestic abuser in the event that physical violence occurs. Thankfully, this is about to change. The Daily Yomiuri reports that proposed revisions to the Domestic Violence Prevention Law would add verbal and psychological abuse to the list of infractions which may result in the handing down of a restraining order. The revisions are also set to include making telephone calls and sending emails violations of one’s restraining order.

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