BizCast Japan is back with its first release of 2008. For the new year, co-hosts Albrecht Stahmer and Ken Worsley have developed a new format for the show, which will now focus on industries rather than specific new items. This should mean that it’s impossible for the show to get off topic!

This edition of the show begins with a short discussion on news in the automotive industry, especially concerning the battle between Toyota and General Motors for global domination. From there, the discussion turns to the services sector and recent developments concerning G.communications, who have taken over part of the former Nova language school business. Is G.communications heading down a path toward disaster?

After that, the finance sector is discussed, and our co-hosts consider the question, “Are Japanese banks back?” This is discussed in the context of recent news that Mizuho has taken a $1.2 billion stake in US investment bank Merrill Lynch. Given that this is the first such big move by a Japanese bank since the bursting of the bubble, what might this mean for the future?

That leads to a brief discussion of internet trends, blogging in Japan and online advertising. From there, energy and agriculture are discussed, and the effects of inflation are considered.

Real estate remains a favorite topic of the show, and data from both the commercial and residential sectors are considered in the next part of the program. Finally, in the Focus Issue, consumer electronics is discussed. Some of the names that come up are NTT DoCoMo, Google, Disney, Sony, Apple, Nintendo and Panasonic.

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 BizCast #11: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to the 40th release of Seijigiri! In this edition of the show, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley begin by remarking on the resumption of the Marine Self Defense Forces refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, and quickly move on to discuss the beginning of the 2008 Diet Session. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s policy speech is examined, and the discussion turns to the battle over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s proposed extension of temporary taxes on gasoline. With oil prices shooting through the roof over the past few months, might the opposition Democratic Party of Japan be able to come to the side of the average person by pushing for tax relief?

The issue gets complicated as a recent proposal by 58 LDP Diet members to extend tax breaks on capital gains and dividend income taxes is discussed. Given the turmoil in Japan’s financial markets at the beginning of 2008, it seems wise to propose decreased tax burdens for market players, but might this alienate them from those who suffer from the extension of the gasoline tax? Will Japan’s gas-guzzling businesses and taxpayers appreciate efforts to make market players happy? Given the situation with Japan’s budget, can reduced taxes in both areas be affordable?

Talk then turns to the budget itself, and the line items are dissected. With social security spending being the most expensive line item on the budget at close to 22 trillion yen, up 3% from last year, and 20 trillion yen of the nation’s 83 trillion yen budget still funded by “deficit bonds,” is a financial crisis looming for Japan?

The show ends with some commentary on the possibility of a Lower House election in 2008, and since campaign posters have already been spotted in some places by our co-hosts, a plea is made to the listeners of Seijigiri…

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 Seijigiri #40: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

TPR News is finally back from its lengthy Winter hiatus just as Tokyo is finally starting to look wintry. Last year’s record for the latest recorded snowfall in Tokyo (officially none) will remain very safely intact as a couple inches of the stuff of Irving Berlin’s dreams piles up - the most we’ve seen for at least a few years now.

In this edition of TPR News: The Diet session opens; Fukuda gets a bump in popularity; the DPJ and LDP get set to tussle over the gas tax; Disney ties up with SoftBank; no smoking in cabs; fewer new adults; and a record number of death sentences.

Politics

The ordinary Diet session began in Friday. Last week’s polls show a slight increase in approval of the Cabinet over last month, with the Asahi Shimbun showing a three point bump, from a low of 31% in December to 34% in the most recent poll, with 45% disapproval. The Yomiuri Shimbun registers 45.6% supporting the Cabinet and 41.6% not supporting it. The Mainichi Shimbun and Sankei-FNN polls show results similar to those of the Asahi poll. Jun Okumura of GlobalTalk 21 has placed the polls in parallel, along with some comparisons between now and how the LDP and DPJ were polling shortly before last July’s Upper House elections. (Read on …)

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 TPR News 01/23/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s the first release of 2008, but Seijigiri is still talking about the 2007 Diet session, which has been extended beyond the new year. Of course, the main reason for the extension has been to pass a new bill allowing the Maritime Self-Defense Forces to return to their refueling mission in support of coalition forces in the Indian Ocean.

Just before this release was recorded, the Upper House voted 133-106 to reject the bill, as expected. The Lower House countered by using its supermajority in a third vote to push the bill through with a 340-133 vote (the Upper House voted for the law back on November 13; Yes, that’s how long this has been dragged out).

In this edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley start things off by discussing the extended diet session and what we learned from it. Will domestic issues come back to the forefront now that the refueling bill and the Moriya scandal are out of the way? Has either major party learned much from the results of last July’s Upper House election?

The discussion then moves into developments with social insurance, pensions, consumer affairs and the battle over who may be the next Governor of the Bank of Japan. These are some of the domestically-focused, bread-and-butter issues where we expect to see the focus of the government shift to in 2008, especially if there is to be the possibility of an election in the lower house.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Shisaku
What Japan Thinks
We here at TPR are quite fond of both and recommend them highly.

Also great for news on and analysis of Japanese politics and more (and also highly recommended by TPR):
Observing Japan
Global Talk 21

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 Seijigiri #39: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Happy New Year!

TPR is excited to get started with it’s second season of Japanese professional baseball (NPB), and we’d like to thank you for your support and listenership in 2007.

今年もよろしくお願いします。

The off-season moves by this year’s crop of free agents have been as dizzying as the players are talented. A more detailed report of those moves, which includes a lot of cross-league and trans-Pacific player movement, is coming in the near future. For right now we’d like to draw your attention to the big names that decided to re-sign with the same teams they played for last year.

Without further ado:

(Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Prime Minister Fukuda gives his first press conference of the year; the DPJ polls thirteen points ahead of the LDP; both camps get ready for a general election; Nagano joins Juki Net; the Nikkei plummets; Tokyo Stock Exchange President blasts the government and regulators; Toyota passes Ford; casino bill to be presented to the Diet; prisoners are unhappy with their pajamas; Waseda opens a journalism school; and more.

Politics

The kerfuffle over whether or not Ichiro Ozawa was resigning, the inability to use an Upper House majority to get anything done, public opinion polls showing people see gridlock in the Diet as a worry, and a new Prime Minister from the LDP have not been enough to turn people away from the Democratic Party of Japan or boost confidence in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. According to a Mainichi Shimbun survey, 82% of respondents were interested in a possible general election, 51% said they’d vote primarily based on issues, and 46% said they hoped for a DPJ victory, as compared to only 33% wishing for an LDP win. The poll shows the DPJ’s advantage over the LDP increasing from a 7% lead just after the DPJ’s victory in the July 29th Upper House elections to 13% in the most recent poll.

Presumably, voters are angered by the flood of scandals that have poured out of the LDP over the past year or so and by the myriad instances of LDP mismanagement. From a solid majority approval rating when he took office in September, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s approval rating has fallen to around 30%. (Read on …)

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 TPR News: 01/07/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

January 7th is a big day for anniversaries in Japanese history.

Two Prime Ministers assumed their posts on this day - Prince Kimmochi Saionji in 1906 and Count Keigo Kiyoura in 1924.

Prince Kimmochi Saionji was in the midst of an interesting succession of Prime Ministers - he was Prime Minister twice, the 12th and 14th, and was both preceded and succeeded both times by Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Taro Katsura, the 11th, 13th, and 15th Prime Minister.

Saionji, not yet a prince, but still a marquis in 1906, took over the Prime Ministership from Katsura for the first time on January 7, 1906 when Katsura resigned due to controversy surrounding the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the Russo-Japanese War.

The controversy was primarily the disappointment of the Japanese public at the relatively modest rewards secured by Japan despite a decisive, resounding victory over Russia - the young modern Japanese state’s most significant military victory to that date and a major step towards getting the respect from the West that Japan sought. During the war, American visitors to Japan commented on the remarkable public enthusiasm for the war - women wore hair ornaments shaped like little battleships and kimono printed with patriotic and martial patterns, significant triumphs were met with exuberant public celebrations, and more.

The Russo-Japanese War was to that date the largest-ever clash between states (in terms of troop and ship numbers) and saw the first use of the telegraph, telephone, machine guns, barbed wire, illuminating star shells, mine fields, advanced torpedoes, and armored battleships in war. (Read on …)

Shame on us for not reporting this a bit sooner, but Japan’s Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, has apparently taken up vlogging as a hobby (Or, more properly put, his party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has taken up vlogging as a PR campaign). Here is his most recent release, a New Year’s message recorded in English and released on January 1st:

Thus far, there have been 1,466 views of the English version and 2,837 views of the Japanese version of the Prime Minister’s video.

What’s more telling, however, is the presentation of the “LDP channel” on You Tube. In terms of public relations, this is a great move for the LDP. No, the videos really aren’t that exciting, and no - it doesn’t seem that many people are watching them yet. But, we hope that the LDP will be able to use the format to communicate better with the public. Unfortunately, LDP Secretary General Ibuki Bunmei doesn’t come across as too exciting in his most recent clip: (Read on …)