New Year’s Greetings from Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
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 …)
Related Posts:
- LDP Presidential Election: Aso vs Fukuda
- Fukuda’s Cabinet
- Upper and Lower Houses Can’t Agree, so Fukuda Officially Becomes Prime Minister
- Seijigiri #41: The Budget is Passed, and Fukuda is Feeling the Pressure
- Seijigiri #34: Fukuda keeps the Faction Heads Happy and Koizumi’s “Great Mane of Richard Gere-ness” (with Adam Richards)










As an addendum to the soon-to-be released Seijigiri #36, the ball has started rolling. It’s now up to the DPJ-controlled House of Councillors to decide whether they want to reject the bill or not. If they do, it is likely that the LDP-New Komeito coalition will use its supermajority in House of Representatives to ram it through, which will then leave the DPJ deciding whether or not they want to pass a censure motion against Prime Minister Fukuda. The possible scenarios are discussed in depth in Seijigiri #36.
In this edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley begin by discussing the visit of 67 lawmakers to the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, decide it is no longer relevant, and move on to a discussion of Japan’s role in the war in Afghanistan. This is followed by a discussion of when a Lower House election might come, what might spur it, and how it could turn out.