To record this edition of Seijigiri, we attempted to wait until the Diet had passed its last three bills of the current session, but the Upper House debate continued well into the early hours of Saturday morning. Nonetheless, we discussed the bills as though they were to be passed, as they were.

The discussion begins with a look at former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori’s announcement that he intends to run in next month’s Upper House election, as a candidate for the Kokumin Shinto (the People’s New Party). We then move on to look at what the election results might actually look like, and why the Democratic Party of Japan seems to be not capitalizing on what looks like a severely weakened Liberal Democratic Party.

The question of whether Shinzo Abe will be forced to step down if the LDP fails to cross the “Hashimoto Line” of retaining 44 seats is discussed, and then the discussion moves into the LDP’s actual platform, or manifesto, of issues that we will all be hearing more about in the next few weeks.

We then look at Friday’s decision by a panel headed by the Prime Minister which asserted that Japan does have the right to defend an ally who comes under attack from a missile. This, of course, satisfies a large piece of Shinzo Abe’s desire to strengthen defense ties with the United States. Last winter, US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer expressed a desire to have this point clarified. Immediately after Schieffer asked for clarification, U.S. Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs Richard Lawless, while on a visit to Japan, said it would be “crazy” of Japan not to shoot down a North Korean missile headed for the United States.

Finally, as time runs out, we look at the last three bills of the Diet session, as the debate continued. They included a bill to fix problems at the scandal-plagued Social Insurance Agency, a bill to restructure the agency itself, and a bill intended to reform the practice of ‘Amakudari,’ in which high-ranking bureaucrats are placed in cushy private sector positions upon retirement. As the passage of these bills effectively closes out this year’s regular Diet session in order to allow for candidates to hit the campaign trail next week, it becomes obvious that the 12 day extension of the Diet session was nothing more than a ploy to push the Upper House election back one week.

As always, thank you for listening. We hope to be back with the next edition of Seijigiri in two weeks, just after the Upper House election campaign period formally begins.

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