Twice each week, TPR News brings you podcasts and streaming audio coverage of Japan's biggest news events. You can listen to TPR News here at Trans-Pacific Radio, or you can subscribe and get each episode automatically, as they're released. It's easy to subscribe to TPR News: Just copy and paste the RSS feed link for TPR News into iTunes or your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment; we'd love to hear what you have to say.

In this edition of TPR News: The LDP presidential candidates are announced and the factions line up, Ozawa cruises back into the DPJ presidency, Japan to pull out of Iraq, Government to issue more bonds, electric motorcycles, good times for Suntory Beer, and much more.

Politics

On Wednesday, the LDP presidential campaign officially started with five candidates placing their names in contention. The contenders are: Taro Aso, currently the LDP Secretary General, former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, Shigeru Ishiba, also a former Defense Minister, State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Kaoru Yosano, and former LDP policy chief Nobuteru Ishihara. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Prime Minister Fukuda resigns, Taro Aso declares his candidacy for the post, LDP reformers consider Yuriko Koike, DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa officially declares for reelection in a race that will be uncontested, a new third party, the Reform Club, is formed, more Russian rikishi and an Australian rugby player are busted for pot smoking, police begin videotaping some confessions, and much, much more.

Politics

The big news, of course, is that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced his resignation at 9:30 p.m. on Monday night.

Fukuda said he had come to the conclusion that a new leader would be more able to pass contentious legislation in the upcoming extraordinary Diet session and deal with the opposition camp that had locked horns with the ruling camp and forced the LDP-New Komeito coalition to fifty-nine bills through using its Lower House supermajority.

Of his decision, Fukuda said, “When taking into consideration that the lives of the public come first, we must not create a political vacuum by political horse-trading. On this occasion, we must promote policies with a new lineup — that is my conclusion and I have decided today to resign.” (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: A few old favorites are back in the limelight this time - corruption at the Farm Ministry, bullying-related suicide, Japan’s approach to human rights legislation, and the country’s declining population are joined by a facelift for Nagatacho, drugs in sumo, and the latest news in business and the economy.

Politics

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. The extraordinary Diet session is set to begin on September 12th and will last a mere seventy days, leaving no time for the overrides of the opposition or the fifty-nining of bills that were the hallmark of the recent ordinary Diet session and last year’s extraordinary session. As Shisaku author MTC points out, this will leave a number of contentious issues unresolved.

The Indian Ocean refueling mission, reallocation of road tax revenues into the general fund, and a consumption tax increase, among others, are likely to fall by the wayside as there will be scant time to debate any of the above bills, have them approved by the House of Representatives, shot down by the House of Councillors, and aged for sixty days before being fifty-nined through by the ruling camp’s two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives on the second vote. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Fukuda to reshuffle the Cabinet; New Komeito calls for elections or a new majority leader; the DPJ presidential race heats up; industrial production and exports down, consumer prices up; Keirin involved in shady business; Nova’s Sahashi avoids a second indictment; and more.

Politics

The Diet is out of session, but politics continues apace.

Although the Fukuda Cabinet’s approval ratings have recovered a bit from their sub-20% nadir near the end of the ordinary Diet session, reaching 24% in the latest Asahi poll, the Prime Minister’s position is not looking much more secure, with his coalition partners and some members of his own LDP dropping hints that they don’t have confidence in Fukuda to lead them to victory in the general election that can occur no later than September of next year. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Amakudari is here to stay; pensions aren’t getting easier to finance; Takeshima will not be schoolbook propaganda after all; the ASDF will not be headed to Sichuan after all; 7-11 in Shanghai; Steel Partners ousts part of Aderans’s board; anime flick JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure insults Islam; and more.

Politics

Breathe a sigh of relief. Unless you dislike kickbacks, that is. Amakudari is safe.

On Thursday, the Lower House passed a bill reforming the civil service system. After passing a last-minute amendment, the opposition DPJ supported the bill, with Lower House member Kenta Izumi saying, “The aim of restructuring the public servant system is to change a vertically structured and closed bureaucracy into one that is transparent and efficient, and to create an administrative organization that will truly benefit the public,” and that Japan had to change its “bureaucrat-led” administration into a “politician-led” one.

(Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Fukuda falls past the point of no return; “fifty-nining”; consumer confidence down again; oil from algae; more international flights from Haneda; Kanto growing as Japan shrinks; US Navy reacts to a spate of very public crimes committed by its personnel in Japan; Japan is the world’s fifth most peaceful nation; the rising profiles of Koizumi and Koike; and much, much more.

Politics

It’s all politics in the purest sense this time around.

Is Yuriko Koike going to be Japan’s next Prime Minister?

Wouldn’t that be a surprise - conservative Japan having a woman at the head of government before the US. (Before Hillary Clinton supporters chime in, it’s over. It’s been over for a while.)

Many, if not most observers of Japanese politics (and probably most residents of Japan) chuckle, at best, and scoff, at worst, before moving on to other topics. Kingmaker Yoshiro Mori and Koike herself have referred to such a possibility as a “joke.” Nevertheless, the story has legs, popping up as a subplot to Western news items about or mentioning the former Defense Minister (the first woman in that job.)

Why the attention? Koike has some powerful supporters. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made her one of his “assassins” in the September 2005 snap election and has long extolled her virtues. (Attractive as she may be, at 55 she’s a fair bit past Koizumi’s preferred age range - half his age - which precludes the idea of seduction and points to his seeing something politically viable in her.) She has now been included in the “Parliamentary League to Achieve the Kyoto Protocol Goal,” or Mokusatsu Giren, with Koizumi and Hidenao Nakagawa - LDP Secretary General under Prime Minister Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary under Mori. Neither Koizumi nor Nakagawa, both pretty conservative in the right-leaning sense, is scoffing at the idea of fellow conservative Koike’s ascension to the top of the LDP. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Fukuda talks tough, but his approval ratings keep falling; Korea’s Lee visits Tokyo; tax hike; Americans buy udon because Fukudome is batting .317; more on Steel Partners; a temple is defaced in Nagano after declining to host the Olympic torch; and more.

Politics

“Please tell me who in your party I can speak to, who can be trusted.”

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda appeared to catch DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa off-guard and surprised some political observers by expressing his frustration in a more assertive way than usual during their televised debate on Wednesday, April 9th.

While such debates are often formal and lacking in substance and Fukuda has been criticized for preferring old school back room horse trading to publicly hashing out disagreements and selling his policies to the public, the beginnings of change on both fronts crept up during the leaders’ first debate in three months.

After securing the DPJ’s agreement on the approval of Deputy Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who became acting Governor immediately upon assuming the post, as Governor of the Bank of Japan, the LDP nominated Hiroshi Watanabe to fill Shirakawa’s newly vacated Deputy Governoship. The DPJ, as expected, fell in behind Ozawa and rejected Watanabe on the grounds that he had been a senior bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance - the same reason given for rejecting three previous nominees for Governor or Deputy Governor.

Some observers viewed Fukuda’s unusually aggressive comments, attacking Ozawa’s leadership and the DPJ’s tactics of stalling in the Diet and complaining to the press, as signalling a change in tactics. While the opposition camp has publicly criticized Fukuda, his LDP, and their tactics, Fukuda has stuck to attempting to work out deals behind closed doors, the same unappealing practice televised debates between the Prime Minister and opposition leader were supposed to reduce when they were begun a few years ago. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Fukuda’s approval ratings are down; the gas tax expires; BOJ to get a head; administrative reform weak; trouble with Australia; the best companies in Japan - in general and for women; Nintendo on top again; US Sailor charged with murder; Yasukuni hits theaters, or does it?; and liquor at your door.

Politics

Things are still looking grim for Prime Minister Fukuda and his Cabinet. According to a survey by the right-leaning Sankei Shimbun, the Prime Minister’s approval rating has fallen to 23.8% as his disapproval rating has risen to 59%. This doesn’t necessarily mean the opposition Democratic Party is looking any better, though. As the fight over the renewal of the temporary gasoline tax grinds on, 63.9% of respondents approved of Fukuda’s proposal to place gas tax revenue in general funds, thus nullifying one of the DPJ’s most convincing reasons for opposition to the extension of the three-decade old “temporary” levy - the breaking up of the Tanakaist dorozoku, or “road tribe”, that has long used gas tax-funded patronage to keep power and influence.
As expected, the DPJ held off from voting on budget-related bills and the gas tax expired on March 31st, causing gasoline prices to drop by about 24 yen. While the DPJ leadership sees this as a victory, others in the party worry that such stances are giving them the appearance of being a “party of defiance,” especially as the Prime Minister had acceded to one of their main demands and a plank in the party’s platform - adding gas tax money to general revenue.

As the expiration became a sure thing, Fukuda said, “The regions will end up with a revenue shortage and industry will stagnate. I wonder if the DPJ will really do this and ignore the regions. There’s still room to discuss this matter.”

Appearing to be holding out despite getting what they wanted, the DPJ have altered their goal to the permanent abolition of the levy, with Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama saying, “Many citizens are hoping for the abolition of the provisional tax rate. We’ve fought unyieldingly on this issue and are finally seeing the fruits of our efforts materialize.” (Read on …)

We’ve been away, but we haven’t forgotten you, dear listeners. Thanks for sticking around - don’t forget to check out some of TPR’s other recent releases while TPR News has been away, viz. a couple new installments of Japan’s (self-declared) finest political podcast, Seijigiri.

In this edition of TPR News: More bad news for the PM; the gas tax fight continues as government waste comes to light; the opposition rejects three for the BOJ; North Korea might make it off the terrorism sponsor list; KFC prices to rise; kafunsho is bad for GDP; ShinGinko Tokyo, Shinsei Bank, and Resona Bank in trouble; and acquittals.

Politics

Things are just not looking up for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. According to a Yomiuri Shimbun poll last weekend, support for the Cabinet dropped to a new low of 33.9% as disapproval climbed to 54%. The leading reason for disapproval of the Cabinet was “Cannot approve of the Cabinet’s political stance,” followed by “Cannot expect much from the Cabinet’s economic policy” and “Cabinet lacks stability.”

With the contentious gas tax set to expire at the end of the month, the opposition DPJ may have the public on its side. In an Asahi Shimbun poll, 59% of respondents said they opposed the ruling coalition’s bill to extend the three-decade old temporary tax. The same percentage said revenues raised by the tax should be considered general funds and not be earmarked for road construction. The same poll saw Prime Minister Fukuda’s disapproval rating climb over 50% for the first time. In the aforementioned Yomiuri poll, 64% of respondents opposed extending the gas tax beyond its March 31st expiration date. Interestingly, though, 63% of the respondents to the Yomiuri poll also said the ruling and opposition camps should make concessions to reach an agreement on the gas tax bill - a process that, because of the ruling coalition’s supermajority in the Lower House, would seem to favor the extension of the gas tax that the ruling coalition seeks. (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: Pols are unpopular; the MSDF is back in action; the Atago crash; the gas tax; Fukuda visits Korea; 1981 murder suspect arrested in Saipan; more food troubles; the latest business news; and more all around.

Congratulations to the Black Stripe Theater, whose production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross was not only top notch, but also sold out for all five of its performances. Keep an eye on their blog and check back with TPR to find out more about future productions.

Politics

68% of people distrust political parties and politicians and feel that their vote has no influence according to a Yomiuri Shimbun poll conducted last week. Somewhat surprisingly for a poll conducted by the Yomiuri, which tends to get results a bit more favorable of the ruling coalition than other major dailies, over 60% of respondents said they wanted to see an occasional change in the ruling party and 40% of respondents who supported the LDP said they would welcome a change.

Bringing the sole accomplishment of the 2007 extraordinary Diet session to fruition, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces resumed their refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. On Thursday, the MSDF supply ship Oumi supplied a Pakistani frigate with 160 kiloliters of fuel. (Read on …)