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Now that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States, Seijigiri co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley are back with a look at how the Obama presidency might work within the context of the US/Japan alliance.

This release is broken into three broad categories: First, the background of the US/Japan alliance is considered. Second, the expectations of an Obama administration itself are examined. Finally, our co-hosts consider what impact changes in Japanese domestic politics might have on the alliance.

The background portion begins with the events of the Clinton administration, and President Clinton’s summit with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1996. It then moves to a discussion of two papers published by Richard Armitage, in 2000 and 2007. Finally, the discussion comes to the present by considering how the US/Japan alliance has evolved during the Bush administration.

The second part of the show focuses on what developments might be seen in terms of trade, politics and security during the Obama administration. The 2007 Armitage paper as well as Mr. Obama’s stated ideas on international trade form the backdrop to this section.

Finally, possible changes in Japanese domestic politics are discussed within the context of the US/Japan alliance. Such changes are heavily dependent upon the results of the upcoming lower house election, and the impact of such changes on trade is examined.

As always, thank you for listening!

Don’t forget, you can follow and keep in touch with TPR on Twitter. We’re TPRJP.

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 Seijigiri #51: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In the tradition of Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder, Garrett the Butcher, Marcus the Baker, and Ken the Candlestick-maker gathered last Saturday night to discuss the upcoming US election, the McCain campaign and the caliginosity thereof, Taiwan, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, chess boxing, Russell Crowe, prime numbers, Abraham Zapruder, Tectonic Plate Theory, and much, much more, and this podcast is the audio version (by transcription) of that meeting about Joseph Heller.

The 24 words Britain’s Collins English Dictionary has threatened to exuviate are:

Abstergent
Agrestic
Apodeictic
Caducity
Caliginosity
Compossible
Embrangle
Exuviate
Fubsy
Griseous
Malison
Mansuetude
Muliebrity
Niddering
Nitid
Olid
Oppugnant
Periapt
Recrement
Roborant
Skirr
Vaticination
Vilipend

As readers will notice, we have not only declined to define any of those words, but used some in the podcast and have listed only 23. We think you know what the 24th word is. We also have no idea what any of these words mean, but we’ll make something up if you ask us.

The video from the introduction of this podcast:

The West Tokyo Working-Men’s Literary Club is an idea that actually predates TPR, but took a while to come to fruition. The WTWMLC is an awkward acronym and meets irregularly on the West side of Metro Tokyo. Meetings are open to any and all attendees, and are recorded to be released in podcast form. If you would like to attend a meeting, please simply email us at transpacificradio@gmail.com.

Other videos sampled in this podcast are after the cut:

(Read on …)

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 West Tokyo #1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The 50th edition of Seijigiri begins with co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley discussing Japans’s 26.9 trillion yen stimulus package. This package is compared to the 24 trillion yen package that was passed in 1998. Prime Minister Aso’s desire to raise the consumption tax in three year’s time is discussed as well; does it mean anything for the Prime Minister to be telling us what he wants to happen in three years?

After that, the discussion turns to Aso’s approval ratings and public perception. Although Aso’s approval ratings have only fallen slightly, his disapproval ratings are rising, and he has not come across as likable, a quality which may prove important with an election bound to happen sometime in the next ten months.

Talk then turns to the state of the US-Japan alliance. After the US removed North Korea from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, the predictable melodrama followed, with some saying that Japan had been stabbed in the back by its ally. Garrett describes why the US did Japan a huge favor, and Ken gives his opinion that not only will it have no long-term effect on the alliance, but that the event gave a select group of politicians and commentators their much-savored chance to let off some righteous indignation - even as the public already seems to have forgotten why they were supposed to care in the first place. Moving on…

Finally, the question of whether a Republican or Democratic US President is “better” for Japan is considered. Conventional wisdom holds that Republicans are somehow more committed to the US-Japan alliance, but does history really bear that out?

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 Seijigiri #50: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download