Every other week, Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley get together to record Seijigiri, which takes a hard look at the political issues facing Japan. You can listen to Seijigiri here at Trans-Pacific Radio, or you can subscribe and get each episode automatically, as they're released. It's easy to subscribe to Seijigiri: Just copy and paste the RSS feed link for Seijigiri into iTunes or your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to come here and comment on the issues!

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It’s good to be back. Thanks to everyone who kept in touch during Seijigiri’s absence from the airwaves, or the series of tubes, or whatever it is.

In this edition of what remains perhaps Japan’s only political podcast, your hosts Ken Worsley and Garrett DeOrio take a look at what’s in store for the DPJ in its first regular Diet session. The statute of limitations for murder looks like it may be on its way out, sufferage for Special Permanent Residents is on the horizon again (but Shizuka Kamei doesn’t like it), and the fate of the relocation plan for USMC Air Station Futenma remains in question, especially as the election of new Nago Mayor Inamine would seem to uphold the views of those Okinawans who’d rather not have the Marines in their neighborhood.

All of this, though, is happening under the shadow of the scandals surrounding political fund donations to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and shday land purchases by the political fund of DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.

Exciting times have returned.

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Be sure to spend election night with TPR. Adam Richards and Chris Gunson will be joining the Seijigiri guys on the evening (and late into the night) of Sunday, August 30th to announce, analyze, discuss, and otherwise have fun with the election results as they come in. Yes, as they come in. It’s a live video broadcast of Seijigiri.

In the current podcast:
Your hosts Ken Worsley and Garrett DeOrio return to disucss their favorite topic: elections. With a general election, and a real chance of someone other than the LDP really running the government for the first time since 1955, coming up on August 30th, there’s a lot to talk about.

Will the opposition DPJ win a majority? If so, how big might that majority be? (The numbers keep going up. While Garrett and Ken discuss the projections published by the Yomiuri Shimbun and Observing Japan, just after this was recorded, the Mainichi Shimbun blew Seijigiri’s collective mind by speculating that the DPJ might win as many as 320 of the 480 seats.)

How are the seats apportioned? What’s the difference between a single-seat district and proportional representation? How are lawmakers like the DPJ’s Akira Nagatsuma able to stay in the Diet even after they lose their races?

Perhaps most important of all, what’s going to happen if and when the DPJ wins? What pressures will they face? What will happen to the LDP?

All these questions and more are answered in this edition of Seijigiri.

Thanks for listening.

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Avid Seijigiri fans will notice that this release is out of order - the previous release was #56 and this one is #58. What’s the deal? Seijigiri #57 is the live show done at the Pink Cow in Shibuya. Due to hard drive failures, PC crashes and a host of other reasons, that release has been delayed, though hopefully it will be out within a few days.

At any rate, Seijigiri #58 is out just in time for the Tokyo Municipal Assembly elections. While Prime Minister Taro Aso and other LDP leaders continue to claim that the Tokyo elections have no bearing on national politics, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley consider this stance to be indicative of a state of denial that the LDP continues to be in. The show begins with a look at the Tokyo Municipal Elections and moves on to a discussion of its potential impact on national politics.

Some posters for candidates in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward follow. (Read on …)

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The 56th edition of Seijigiri opens with a discussion of North Korea’s recent nuclear weapon test. Co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley consider what steps Japan might take in reaction to the test, and discuss recent rabble that Japan should declare itself a nuclear power - and why that won’t happen.

After that, new US ambassador to Japan John Roos is discussed. While Joseph Nye was the presumptive choice for this post, it seems as though the Obama administration has gone down the path of rewarding a major campaign fundraiser with a plum position. Some of the predictable knee-jerk reactions to this decision are discussed along with the issues facing Mr Roos going forward.

Next on the agenda is a discussion of last week’s Diet debate between Prime Minister Aso Taro and new Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama. After that, the discussion turns to a look at the extra budget, which the ruling party is hoping to pass through the Diet in the coming weeks. Just what is taxpayer money going to be spent on?

Finally, we would like to encourage everyone to come to the Pink Cow in Shibuya on Thursday, June 4 at 7:30pm for the first ever live edition of Seijigiri. More details can be found here.

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It has been some time since the last Seijigiri release, and co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley pick things up by diving straight into current events. First, last Saturday’s election of Yukio Hatoyama as DPJ Party President is analyzed. After that, talk turns to the Lower House election which must be held by October 19, as the term of the Lower House will expire on September 11. The discussion first centers on when the election might happen, then moves on to consider what issues will come up during the election, and finally turns to how recent events have affected election outcome predictions.

This edition of Seijigiri concludes with a special rant.

As always, thank you for listening.

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In this edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley begin by discussing the problems revealed by former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa recent resignation. After appearing drunk and incomprehensible at the G7 meetings in Rome last weekend, media pressure mounted on Nakagawa and he was forced to resign earlier this week.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party continues to be dogged by public relations issues, and seems unable to conduct itself in a manner that would lead to the building of public trust. This portion of the show includes several audio samples, and the source videos are available below. Garrett chides Ken for referring to the incident as “Nakagawa-gate,” and Ken decides that it should be referred to as 中川門 (Nakagawa-mon) from now on.

The last ten minutes of the show focus on pressure being put on Prime Minister Taro Aso from former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. After Aso stated that he wasn’t a true believer in postal privatization, Koizumi hit back, saying he wondered if Mr Aso knew why the LDP had so many seats in the Diet, and that he would abstain from voting to fifty-nine* through the economic stimulus package that Aso is counting on getting passed.

As always, thank you for listening! Videos follow the break:

(Read on …)

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For this special extended edition of Seijigiri, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley are joined by Tobias Harris of Observing Japan. The discussion starts with Tobias describing some possible scenarios for this year’s upcoming lower house election, and moves on to take a look at the role of New Komeito’s role in the ruling coalition. After that, the agenda moves on to discuss Prime Minister Taro Aso’s agenda, and Tobias offers his opinion on why the LDP is unable to govern itself at this point.

Other topics discussed include the role of Yoshimi Watanabe, who recently resigned from the LDP, and a consideration of who could possibly lead the LDP in the future.

As always, thank you for listening.

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This edition of Seijigiri begins with co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley considering three diplomatic issues. First, last Friday’s appearance by former US Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage at Keio University is discussed, especially as his comments related to the previous Seijigiri release. After that, talk turns to the upcoming session of the Six Party Talks and North Korea’s decisions to “ignore” the Japanese side at the talks. Finally, this portion of the discussion turns to Japan’s decision to cut off Overseas Development aid to Vietnam. Japan claims that Vietnamese politics is corrupt, while the incident in question involved bribery instigated by a Japanese firm. As Japan is the largest supplier of ODA to Vietnam, consequences of this decision are considered.

The second portion of the show turns to domestic politics. Prime Minister Aso Taro’s approval rating are in freefall. Although this comes as no surprise, the level of intra-party dissent has been somewhat surprising. Former candidate for prime minister Nobuteru Ishihara and former Reform Minister Yoshimi Watanabe have made waves with statements critical of Mr Aso, while Watanabe has been joined by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki and Toshimitsu Motegi in forming an association of diet members who are pushing Mr Aso to get the second part of his economic stimulus package through the Diet.

Are they really looking to push economic stimulus? The reality of the matter is that Mr Aso said he would dissolve the Diet and call a general election after getting the second part of the stimulus package through the Diet. These fifty-something lawmakers - the ara fifu group as Shisaku refers to them - seem to have realized that an Aso premiership is not going to lead the LDP to victory in the next election, whenever it may come.

Will the fear of self-preservation lead to further turmoil in the LDP? Did Koizumi make good on his promise to destroy the LDP? This edition of Seijigiri holds that some answers to these questions may come in the following weeks.

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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.

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?