Japanese Politics

[Shadow Kira01]

Okada, U.S. envoy Roos agree to deepen bilateral ties

''I told (Roos) that I want to make the meeting one to show that (the two leaders) will fully cooperate with each other and lead the world on global issues, such as global warming and nuclear (disarmament),'' Okada said, adding that the ambassador shared the same view.

In their roughly 45-minute meeting, Okada tried to steer the conversation toward issues recently highlighted as major sticking points between the two countries, namely, a stated end to Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean and a possible review of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

But Roos did not make any response, Okada said. ''I thought maybe he thinks we should not discuss them yet on occasions like this.''

Considering that Okada is opposing the United States' plan on the refueling mission on September 11th generally means he is pretty hawkish..

[Shadow Kira01]

DPJ not to allow coalition partners to join state strategy bureau

The Democratic Party of Japan plans not to allow its two minor coalition partners to join the National Strategy Bureau, planned to be created as a policymaking body to lay out budgets and basic policies in the upcoming coalition government, party sources said Sunday.

Sounds just about right..

[Yu Ominae]

I'd like to see how the DPJ would look at the SOFA agreement with America. Apparently, some officials in the US are already worried over this.

[Terrestrial Dream]

I know nothing about Japanese politic but I want to know what will be the policy of the new Japanese pm and elected party with other Asian countries particularly Korea. Oh and will he visit the Yasukuni Shrine?

[Yu Ominae]

I know Hatoyama wants to reach out to the Asian countries. Not sure on the shrine though.

[Autumn Demon]

Hatoyama has said he won't visit Yasukuni Shrine as prime minister.

[Shadow Kira01]

72% support Hatoyama's Cabinet: Kyodo poll

The support rate for Yukio Hatoyama's newly-launched Cabinet hit 72 percent, marking one of the highest figures among recent Cabinets shortly after inauguration, a Kyodo News survey showed Thursday.

Looking good, hope it will remain the same or go even higher after 3 months...

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Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

I know nothing about Japanese politic but I want to know what will be the policy of the new Japanese pm and elected party with other Asian countries particularly Korea. Oh and will he visit the Yasukuni Shrine?

The new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ will not be visiting the shrine. Instead, he will try and organize a plan to remove the 14 A-class war criminals from the shrine to another, so that both the Emperor, visiting foreign officials, and also members of the government will be able to visit Yasukuni which also hosts the souls of hundred of thousands of warriors including those from the Sengoku era who sacrificed their lives for the nation. However, the plan may not succeed smoothly as that there is opposition against the idea of removing the ones involved with WWII. Some people sees the shrine as a religious entity which is independent of politics. Generally, the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan will try to improve bilateral ties with Asian nations including Korea, of course.

Not sure how things will work out but hopefully, the improvement of bilateral ties can be achieved.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by Shadow Kira01

72% support Hatoyama's Cabinet: Kyodo poll



Looking good, hope it will remain the same or go even higher after 3 months...

----


The new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ will not be visiting the shrine. Instead, he will try and organize a plan to remove the 14 A-class war criminals from the shrine to another, so that both the Emperor, visiting foreign officials, and also members of the government will be able to visit Yasukuni which also hosts the souls of hundred of thousands of warriors including those from the Sengoku era who sacrificed their lives for the nation. However, the plan may not succeed smoothly as that there is opposition against the idea of removing the ones involved with WWII. Some people sees the shrine as a religious entity which is independent of politics. Generally, the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan will try to improve bilateral ties with Asian nations including Korea, of course.

Not sure how things will work out but hopefully, the improvement of bilateral ties can be achieved.

Won't happen that fast. 3 hours away from Tokyo by shinkansen, in Japan's most foreigner-friendly city, Kobe, I can tell you, the ground sentiment among Zainichi is that the new government needs to offer an unreserved apology not unlike that made by Murayama. And stop whitewashing the history textbooks.

[Shadow Kira01]

The path to improve bilateral ties should be done in coordinations of both countries rather than one-sided ideals. If Japan would love to improve relations with neighboring countries yet many of these countries are going to request unreasonable demands, nothing will improve aside from maintaining strained relations which is an obstacle to making the East Asian Community a better place.

The ideals of Yukio Hatoyama seems to be... To build an united East Asian community with China and Korea where the three nations would be allied on both economic issues, as well as possibly military and politics but of course, I don't think it will go smoothly as that both Korea and China are reluctant to cooperate due to a spate of unresolved issues. Nonetheless, the Hatoyama Cabinet will most likely avoid visiting Yasukuni Shrine and will also push off a bill to remove the 14 A-class war criminals and place them in a seperate shrine so that the Emperor, as well as anybody else can freely visit Yasukuni without sparking any political controversies.

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

Won't happen that fast. 3 hours away from Tokyo by shinkansen, in Japan's most foreigner-friendly city, Kobe, I can tell you, the ground sentiment among Zainichi is that the new government needs to offer an unreserved apology not unlike that made by Murayama. And stop whitewashing the history textbooks.

What do you mean by whitewashing history textbooks? I cannot comprehend.

If you mean that Japanese history textbooks should be taught in the perspective of a fusion between Korean and Chinese perspectives, then I think this is very questionable as that the textbooks are made for Japanese history classes as opposed to being made for Korean history classess and/or Chinese history classes.

As for an unreserved apology, I think it is inappropriate as that it is not necessary for Japan to apologize any more than 17 times already. Its not like every time a government or a leader is changed in Japan, the new government will have to issue an apology to Korea or any other nation. More over, if Japan made an exclusive apology to Korea, other nations will be demanding the same thing. In the end, it would seem as though the Hatoyama Cabinet is on an apology tour like the Obama Administration which doesn't seem right. Actually, the United States had never apologized to the Muslim world once and it was for the first time under Obama's leadership whereas Japan had already done so many times under various leaderships. Thus, Yukio Hatoyama, the new prime minister is not obligated to do so and it is also inappropriate to do so.

[Shadow Kira01]

Hatoyama Cabinet support rates high at 71-77%: newspaper polls

The support rates for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's newly launched Cabinet logged high, from 71 to 77 percent, the highest levels among recent Cabinets shortly after inauguration, four major Japanese dailies reported Friday.

DPJ AT THE HELM / Disarray in forming Cabinet / Hatoyama forced to appease party heavyweights, even rescind offer

According to some in attendance, Okada mentioned talks between Japan's foreign and defense ministers and their counterparts in the United States--known as two-plus-two talks--saying: "The post of defense minister is important. We can't entrust it to someone from another party."

Diplomatic and national security matters involve many secrets. Okada's view was that highly delicate negotiations with other countries should not be left to members of a different party, even if that party was a coalition partner.

Hatoyama heard of Okada's opinion Monday evening, after which he instructed party executives to discuss the issue again by telephone. Ultimately, the idea of making Kamei defense minister was abandoned.

There seems to be some serious disagreements within the tri-party coalition but somehow, it should work out in the end as that the approval ratings had hit 75%.

China backs Hatoyama initiative to forge 'East Asian Community'

China on Thursday expressed support for Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's call for an ''East Asian Community,'' saying the establishment of such a community is a long-term goal for East Asian cooperation.

Now, its just Korea left to express support..

If all three nations are united on building an "East Asian Community", not just that a flourishing economy and regional stability will be achieved, it will also be an end to North Korea's nuclear ambitions and missile threats.

[yezhanquan]

On the issue of history, I personally don't want any more apologies. I just want the situation whereby students travelling outside of Japan "were shocked by their forefathers' action in China, Korea and Southeast Asia" to be gone. Tell your side of the story, yes, but let them know a little on our side of the fence as well. I hope "I didn't know that" becomes unfashionable when it comes to this part of history among young Japanese.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by Shadow Kira01

.

China backs Hatoyama initiative to forge 'East Asian Community'



Now, its just Korea left to express support..

If all three nations are united on building an "East Asian Community", not just that a flourishing economy and regional stability will be achieved, it will also be an end to North Korea's nuclear ambitions and missile threats.

How? I cannot comprehend.

And on the textbooks: Can we, for the first time, see MORE on Japan's involvement in WWII, rather than the utterly miserable stuff they give right now...? And not in an apologetic or defensive stance, but one that's neutral...?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

On the issue of history, I personally don't want any more apologies. I just want the situation whereby students travelling outside of Japan "were shocked by their forefathers' action in China, Korea and Southeast Asia" to be gone. Tell your side of the story, yes, but let them know a little on our side of the fence as well. I hope "I didn't know that" becomes unfashionable when it comes to this part of history among young Japanese.

Sadly, the same can be held true for history as it is often taught in many countries in the K-12 systems. My American history classes (taught in the 70s) frankly were sanitized mythic pieces of junk. Flash forward 20+ years and I browse through my son's books when they were in high school.... and not much has really changed.

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=11141949 for just HOW badly the US does at training their citizens in historical context (and those were the easy questions :P )

If it weren't for the fact we have our own texts at home and watched a lot of PBS historical documentaries, my kids would still have the "crayola fairy tale" version of history that leaves most Americans misinformed of what came before them. Sometimes I think Japan's version of that myth-making is just more painful because everyone who took the brunt of it is so much closer to each other. Many Japanese don't even realize how badly they themselves got treated by their leadership during WW2.

So I'd like yezhanquan's desire to be true for all of us , not just the Japanese. The new administration in Japan has LOT to do on many fronts... it will be interesting watching them try to steer the behemoth bureaucracy.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Japan's new government gags civil servants

By Kwan Weng Kin
Japan correspondent for The Straits Times

JAPANESE civil servants are now barred from giving press conferences or associating with politicians under unprecedented guidelines introduced by a new government determined to whittle down the bureaucracy's influence.

Reining in civil servants is one of the watchwords of the new coalition government led by the Democratic Party of Japan which assumed power on Wednesday (Sept 16). Premier Yukio Hatoyama is seeking to focus power within the Prime Minister's Office, where a National Strategy Bureau will be established to oversee the drafting of the national Budget and to control policymaking.

Under past governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party, the bureaucracy often dominated policymaking, turning politicians into rubber stamps. Under the new guidelines, only elected officials such as the minister or deputy minister will give press conferences and civil servants can interact only with ministers or junior ministers. If civil servants meet other politicians or their representatives, the contents of those meetings will have to be recorded and made available for public inspection.

Another blow to the bureaucracy's ego is Mr Hatoyama's decision to stop administrative vice-ministers (the top civil servant who leads a ministry) from holding regular meetings to decide Cabinet agenda. Instead, policy coordination among ministries will be the responsibility of Cabinet ministers.

Mr Hatoyama also did away with another old practice on Wednesday. In the past, politicians had to regurgitate to reporters whatever their officials had told them just minutes before. In contrast, Mr Hatoyama's new ministers did not have to speak to the press until after their attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace, thus giving them considerable time to think about what they should say and how to say it in their own words.

- THE STRAITS TIMES

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan's new government gags civil servants

Wow... good first shot across the bow of the bureaucracy

[yezhanquan]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Wow... good first shot across the bow of the bureaucracy

Nice move for the new government, and a return salute for the support on history education.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan's new government gags civil servants

Long overdue...

[Guardian Enzo]

Some real good news:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6840248.ece

[Shadow Kira01]

I have just realized that Yukio Hatoyama's East Asian Community and also "yuai" policy might had originated from 東亜友愛 or so, it seems..

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'Fraternity' alone won't push forward diplomacy

When it comes to the joint gas field development project in the East China Sea, an issue of contention between the two countries, Hatoyama said he wanted to change the "sea of problems" into a "sea of fraternity."

The two countries have already agreed to jointly develop the Shirakaba gas field, known as the Chunxiao gas field in China. Nevertheless, during the summer, China made moves that could be seen as preparations to independently develop the gas field. It is a good example of the problems that exist in Japan-China diplomacy that cannot be simply resolved with "fraternity."

[ZephyrLeanne]

[QUOTE=Shadow Kira01;2657917]I have just realized that Yukio Hatoyama's East Asian Community and also "yuai" policy might had originated from 東亜友愛 or so, it seems..

His East Asia Community brings forth WWII overtones.
Beware. He isn't the Tomichii Murayama China thinks he is.