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 …)

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.

From Kyodo:
(Read on …)

When you spend your career going for the top, striving for power, it’s not so easy to leave it all behind. Especially not when you help put a second party in a position to strike at power, setting the stage for two-party democracy for the first time. . . well, ever, really, in Japan.

Ozawa offered his resignation on Sunday. No one in the DPJ was willing to try to fill his shoes. They were all really sorry they made him feel as though he’d lost their confidence. They were unprepared to call his bluff.

Ichiro Ozawa will remain president of the DPJ.

(Read on …)

What’s a political party for?

No, not that, I mean what’s the raison d’etre of a political party? To attain and hold political power, of course. A quick survey of political parties around the world and through generations will show this to be the only real goal of any political party of any stripe. Principles would be, maybe, a distant third behind lining the pockets of members at public expense.

So, if you’re the head of a fractious, infighting opposition party in what is essentially still a one-party state and your chances of taking over the government are not on the rise, what do you do with an offer from the big boys to share the power?

If you were the Democratic Party’s Ichiro Ozawa, you could, it’s true, note that you’d recently had a successful turn in the opposition, forcing the (at least temporary) end of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. You could think of your star as being ascendant and view the Liberal Democratic Party’s overture as a sign of weakness. You could also stand on principle and reject the offer immediately.

Or you could recognize the fact that your party suffers from a lot of internal bickering and some serious internal differences and take the proposal back to them to talk your next move over.

You’d be damned if you did and damned if you didn’t.

In a press conference today, Ozawa revealed that Prime Minister Fukuda had offered to adopt Ozawa’s principle that any and all SDF actions related to military campaigns must have prior approval of the UN. Ozawa said he viewed a coalition with the LDP as a possible chance at gaining the Lower House power necessary to fulfilling the party’s promises to the public.

He was shot down by DPJ executives and, in the press conference, said this was akin to a vote of no-confidence.

DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama said he hoped Ozawa would change his mind.

In response to rumors that it was he, and not Fukuda, who first proposed a coalition, Ozawa blasted all of the media except for the Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei Shimbun, saying other media outlets had fomented and propagated libelous rumors designed to destroy him, his political career, and his party. Politicians aren’t known for being straight talkers, and Ozawa is certainly a politician, but I believe him this time. What the DPJ apparently needs is more powerful press club than that of the LDP-controlled government. Until then, the LDP decides what the political news is.

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.

After that, the discussion turns to a short look at the politicization of consumption taxes and how this issue could hurt the LDP (again). This leads to the funding of the pension system, and why that issue matters more to voters than Afghanistan. Following that, our hosts consider the issue of Article Nine and whether it is actually important. Finally, the future of Prime Minister Fukuda, and former Foreign Minister Taro Aso are discussed, along with the final nail in the coffin of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Beautiful Japan” project.

We would like to express a huge debt of thanks to Tobias Harris of Observing Japan and Adam Richards of the Mutant Frog Travelogue for appearing as guest commentators on Seijigiri over the past two months. Their contributions to the show have been invaluable, and we have been humbled by their writings on Japan. We look forward to having them both back soon.

By the way, we have new software and some new hardware. We think things sound much better. We’re excited about this and hope we can learn to use it and get the most out of it all soon.

Listen Now:

 Seijigiri #35: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This edition of the podcast on Japanese politics, Seijigiri, is the relatively brief continuation of Garrett and Adam’s conversation begun in Seijigiri #33. In it, your hosts discuss some of the changes new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda made upon assuming the premiership, how this fits in to the bigger picture, and Adamu indulges his deep, deep love for former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi by explaining why the “great mane of Richard Gere-ness” was actually important and regaling one and all with his tales of some of Koizumi’s finer moments in PR.

As always, we hope you enjoy the show and thank you for listening.

Listen Now:

 Seijigiri #34: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Adam Richards, of Mutant Frog Travelogue fame, joins Garrett DeOrio in the TPR studio to discuss Yasuo Fukuda’s election as Prime Minister of Japan, what his Cabinet is shaping up to look like, and more. When you ask Adam about Fukuda, though, you get a very thorough answer.

Your hosts follow a thread from Koizumi, on the impact of whose hair Mr. Richards might be the world’s foremost expert, to Abe, to Fukuda, which takes a while, so this is the first of two shows, the next one will be out soon.

Thank you for listening.

(Read on …)

Listen Now:

 Seijigiri #33: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As with everything else in the past few days, newly-elected LDP President Yasuo Fukuda’s election as Prime Minister of Japan went pretty much exactly as predicted.

The DPJ controls the House of Councillors (the Upper House) and nominated their leader, Ichiro Ozawa, for Prime Minister. The LDP, which still controls the more powerful House of Representatives (the Lower House), nominated their new president. The two sides quickly came to an impasse, which led to a stalemate, which led to Yasuo Fukuda becoming Prime Minister, due to a constitutional provision that grants the power to choose the Prime Minister to the House of Representatives in a situation such as today’s.

The next thing to see will be Fukuda’s full Cabinet line-up, which is not looking very promising so far. Taro Aso has refused a Cabinet post, but, at this point, six of th eight other faction heads are in, which has cause DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama to call the Fukuda administration a return to the LDP’s bad old days. At this point, it’s hard to disagree.

More, much, much more, to come in the soon-to-be release post-election edition of Seijigiri, with guest Adam Richards.

In this long-overdue edition of Japan’s lone political podcast, Tobias Harris, author of Observing Japan and correspondent to the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Wall Street Journal, as well as former staffer to a DPJ Diet member, does us the honor of filling in for Ken Worsley.

Mr. Harris chats with Garrett DeOrio about the upcoming LDP presidential election and what could be accomplished and needs to be done by the soon-to-be Fukuda administration.

Your hosts also delve into some of the problems facing the Japanese body politic in general, especially the growing gap in interests and productivity between the urban and rural regions of Japan and what that means for both the LDP and DPJ.

As if that weren’t enough, Mr. Harris scrutinizes the lingering impact of Koizumi and how that has affected the LDP and will continue to affect it in the future.

So, yes, the race is Fukuda’s to lose, if you’re wondering.

(Editor’s note:  Sorry about the quiet audio - it’s audible, but you’ll want to turn the volume up.)

Listen Now:

 Seijigiri #31: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Alberto Fujimori lost. That I saw coming. As for other election results, I’m pleased to be eating crow this morning. The Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties combined to win 75 seats in yesterday’s House of Councillors election. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party got 37 seats and its coalition partner, the New Komeito, a mere nine.

The totals in the Upper House are now 137 for the opposition and 105 for the ruling coalition, which still has the Lower House.

Despite the absolute trouncing his ruling coalition took, Abe kept the support of top LDP officials and vowed to stay on as Prime Minister to bravely push for reforms the people seem not to want.

(Read on …)