Japan's central bank crisis resolved, others remain
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Masaaki Shirakawa's appointment as Bank of Japan governor ends a long-running political standoff in time for the world's second-largest economy to be properly represented at this week's Group of Seven meeting of central bank leaders. Now he must show whether he can steer the country away from recession.
Full Article (Asia Times)
More analysis
Japan starts Kyoto climate drive - in reverse
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Gasoline price cuts in Japan could not have come at a more awkward time diplomatically for the world's second-biggest economy and major emitter of gases widely blamed for global warming.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Fukuda's losing game of chicken over BOJ
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The decision by Japan's Upper House to reject the government nomination of Toshiro Muto as Bank of Japan governor risks creating a vacuum at the central bank of the world's second-largest economy at a time of global financial crisis. It also further weakens the fragile position of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan covets Russian gas, hot air
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan, keen to be a leader in creating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol and struggling to meet its goals under the existing deal, wants to buy greenhouse gas credits from Russia as a way towards hitting the targets. Natural gas from its northern neighbor will also come in handy.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Political tension rises in Japan over gas tax
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Political tension is heating up in Japan over whether to extend the temporary higher rate for the gasoline tax, amid spikes in oil prices and growing concerns about global warming.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's Fukuda in a fight for his life
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - In his own words, the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda "has its back against the wall". After stepping in for Shinzo Abe in September, it was hoped his experience and moderate reputation would bring political stability, but political deadlock and unresolved scandals have stalled his Liberal Democratic Party's reform agenda and further enraged the public. Fukuda's political future is on the line.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan steps up its biofuel drive
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Rising oil prices and a struggle to meet Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emission targets are prompting Japan to increase research into production of biofuels and encourage motorists to use the products. As it struggles to meet its targets, the government has to contend with the high costs of the alternatives to crude-oil products and a dispute with the petroleum industry
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan goes on an air spending spree
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Justly proud of its key role in creating the Kyoto Protocol, Japan is spending billions of dollars to buy up emission credits as the weeks fly toward the kickoff of the treaty's initial commitment period. Failure to fulfill its commitment would both be an embarrassing loss of face and dent its clout as an environmental diplomat.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Testing time for Japan's US ties
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Tuesday won the first round in his battle to resume Japan's naval refueling role in the "war against terror" - and this just days before a meeting with US President George W Bush. But the reality of Japan's politics and other issues - such as North Korea - could yet erode the foundations of the long-time alliance with the US.
Full Article (Asia Times)
New PM Fukuda launches his 'do or die' cabinet
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda says he wants to negotiate with the opposition to get the public's business enacted, but the Democratic Party of Japan will likely use its domination of the Upper House of the Diet to obstruct Fukuda's program and force a general election. The new premier may be another one-year wonder.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Fukuda heads Japan's leadership race
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Having taken flight with the flamboyant reformer Junichiro Koizumi and then the youthful Shinzo Abe, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party seems poised to return to the old-style, faction-driven, bureaucracy-led politics symbolized by the current front-runner, Yasuo Fukuda, 71. One thing is certain: the next premier will be the scion of a former prime minister.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Embattled Japanese PM takes a political gamble
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - One would not think that a weakened and embattled political leader such as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be making threats to resign. But that's the latest tack Abe has taken by threatening to quit should the Diet refuse to extend Japan's support for allied operations in Afghanistan. His gamble might backfire.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Abe tries to make a new start
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Humbled by his party's historic defeat in the House of Councilors election one month ago and desperate to fend off calls for his resignation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has completely revamped his cabinet and the party hierarchy. But many of the "new faces" are old faces, and he will have trouble pushing any new initiatives through parliament.
Full Article (Asia Times)
The people speak; Abe's not listening
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - A defiant Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shrugged off suggestions that he resign after his party's hammering in Upper House elections on Sunday. By the premier's own admission, though, Japan is now heading for a period of political turmoil and economic doldrums.
Full Article (Asia Times)
A moment of truth for Japan's Abe
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - When Japanese voters go to the polls for the House of Councilors (Upper House of the Diet, or parliament) elections on Sunday, an opposition victory is widely seen as a safe bet, and attention is focused on how big Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition will lose.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Fall of Japan's apostle of 'greed is good'
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Yoshiaki Murakami and Takafumi Horie were once seen as exemplars of a new kind of Japanese businessman. But Horie fell in the Livedoor scandal, and now Murakami too has fallen, convicted of insider trading. These days they are seen more as crass money-grubbers than as real reformers of Japan Inc.
Full Article (Asia Times)
More proof of the Rising Sun's eclipse
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Foreign policymakers in the Land of the Rising Sun would be on Cloud 9 if they could turn the clock back just a few years and bask in the glow of seeing their nation vying for the status as the world's top aid donor again.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan: A political tsunami approaches
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - A political tsunami may sweep Japan soon and alter the nation's political landscape amid an ever swelling wave of public anger over the government's pension records-keeping fiasco and other scandals.
Will the government of beleaguered Prime Minister Shinzo Abe manage to keep itself afloat? Or will it be written off by voters and pensioned off in a key national election this month? Or will there
be any other sea-changes?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's farm export drive bearing fruit
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Long thought of as a food importer - and a protectionist par excellence - Japan has recently carved out a niche as an exporter of unique boutique foods and upscale rice. But Tokyo is increasingly worried about the quality of establishments billing themselves as "Japanese" restaurants and considered forming a "sushi police" force, until international cries forced them to reconsider.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan goes prospecting for rare metals
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Resource-strapped Japan's need for rare metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, platinum and cobalt has it mapping out a long-term strategy to ensure supplies. Increased official development assistance and free trade agreements are being used to this end.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Early countdown to Japan rate rise
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Speculation is rife that Japan's central bank will raise rates soon - as early as August, if not July. The bank seems increasingly confident that the economy will keep expanding moderately and that prices will recover. And it is distancing irtself from political pressure to sit tight until after July elections.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's birth rate rises - barely
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The slight uptick in Japan's fertility rate in 2006 is nothing to celebrate. The long-term trends still indicate a country with fewer and fewer young people to support an aging population. This will eventually put a serious strain on Japan's international competitiveness as the working population thins out.
Full Article (Asia Times)
An awkward visitor for Tokyo and Beijing
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui's visit to Japan is billed as a cultural and academic odyssey. But the staunchly pro-Japan, anti-China octogenarian's trip has "political implications" for Tokyo and Beijing, which want to keep the momentum of their warming relationship on track.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan revs up its Indochina diplomacy
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are prime targets of Japan's new "value-oriented" foreign policy. Although these countries are economically small, they are an increasingly important avenue to strengthened ties with the 10-member ASEAN bloc. And Japan is playing catch-up with China in the region, both economically and politically.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's biofuel drive faces a bumpy road
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan is moving toward increased use of biofuels in cars both to curb global warming and for energy security. But the going is slow, with only a handful of stations now offering biofuel mixtures. Japan's domestic production of biofuels and their ingredients is negligible, which means the country will remain dependent on imports - though from Brazil rather than the volatile Middle East.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan, China as anchors of Asian financial stability
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - A decade after the devastating financial crisis that swept through Asia, 13 regional economies have agreed on an ambitious plan to launch a multilateral currency-swap scheme by pooling funds from the region's vast foreign-exchange reserves to weather similar upheavals in the future.
Full Article (Asia Times)
New energy to Japan's diplomacy
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The past week has seen an unprecedented flurry of top-level Japanese diplomacy aimed at ensuring the resource-poor nation's energy security through stable supplies of oil and other resources.
Full Article (Asia Times)
A dry run for a Japan-US FTA
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan has kicked off negotiations with Australia on concluding a free-trade agreement (FTA), in a desperate bid to play catch-up in the ever-intensifying regional and global FTA race. The negotiations with Australia, launched this week, are particularly significant because they are Japan's first with a major agricultural exporter and are widely seen as a dry run for possible future talks with the United States.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Head wind for Japanese change
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Even as Japan's Diet takes the first step toward revising its pacifist constitution by passing a law enabling a national referendum on constitutional changes, public opinion is moving against any revision. As the prospect of changing the charter, and its war-renouncing Article 9, comes closer, more Japanese are getting cold feet.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Chinese premier's 'ice-melting' Japan journey
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Flowers bloom in spring after the melting of snow and ice. And so, maybe, will relations between Tokyo and Beijing after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's "ice-melting" journey to Japan.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Abe trumpets Iraq support ahead of US visit
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with US President George W Bush in Washington this month, he will come bearing gifts. The most important is his government's support for a two-year extension of its air force mission in Kuwait and Iraq. Though its involvement is unpopular at home, Japan has been a steadfast partner of the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Markets play guessing games over BOJ
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's financial markets are abuzz with two questions: How many more times will the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raise interest rates before its governor, Toshihiko Fukui, almost certainly steps down in a year's time, and then who will step into his shoes?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's quest for Bigger Oil
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - In an effort to turn Inpex Holdings, Japan's largest oil and natural gas developer, into an enterprise that is even more powerful than its rival international oil majors, Tokyo has been aggressively expanding its overseas business in the past year.
Full Article (Asia Times)
'Axis of democracy' flexes its military muscles
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The US, Japan and India will hold their first-ever joint military exercises in waters near Japan in April. This is one of the first tangible fruits of Tokyo's efforts to stitch together an "axis of democracy" linking Japan with the US, Australia and the world's largest democracy, India. New Delhi is in the enviable position of being courted by Japan, the US and China
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan shields itself from attack
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - It's not the fictional Super X project, designed to defend Tokyo, in the Godzilla movie series. It's a real project designed to shield Japan - the capital first and other parts of the country later - from a real threat.
Full Article (Asia Times)
The fall of a Japanese business iconoclast
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - He burst on the Japanese business scene like a rocket. But Livedoor's former president Takafumi Horie crashed in flames, guilty of fraud and securities-law violations. Fans say Horie breathed new life into a moribund business climate, but the equity market for startups has not yet recovered from the "Livedoor shock".
Full Article (Asia Times)
The emerging axis of democracy
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan has signed with Australia only its second bilateral security agreement since the end of World War II. The agreement, which does not commit either party to defend the other, rests primarily on commonality of interests as free-market democracies. The Chinese may view it as another attempt by Western-oriented nations to contain its rise.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan, China gear up for gas talks
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - As their political relations slowly improve, Tokyo and Beijing are set to resume talks on disputed natural-gas deposits in the East China Sea, an issue that has been a major source of diplomatic friction between the Asian neighbors for many years.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan in a bind over North Korea
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may find himself in a box of his own construction over how to deal with the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea and his own comments regarding Imperial Japan's recruiting (or coercion) of women to serve as prostitutes for soldiers during World War II, an issue that particularly animates South Korea.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Moscow's successful business diplomacy
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - There was no movement on resolving territorial disputes during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's recent visit to Tokyo. But the visit also showed that resolving the Kuril Islands issue isn't the be-all and end-all of Russo-Japanese relations. Japanese businesses are showing a growing interest in investing in economically booming Russia.
Full Article (Asia Times)
The great Japan-Mongolia love affair
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - You might wonder why Tokyo rolled out the red carpet to honor Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar this week. For one thing, Ulan Bator graciously gave up its turn on the UN Security Council for Japan. More than that, Japan and Mongolia have been cultivating close relations for many years
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan: When a spy satellite isn't a spy satellite
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The launch of a new radar satellite on Saturday, if successful, will complete Japan's planned four-satellite system for intelligence gathering. While it cannot, under the country's constitution, be labeled a "spy" satellite, many experts agree that the nation needs to boost its space-based surveillance capabilities
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan hikes rates, yen falls
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Taking its cue from recent robust economic data, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has raised interest rates for the first time in seven months, by a quarter percentage point to 0.5%, in an attempt to rectify what the central bank itself views as the "abnormal" state of the credit policy.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Oil-hungry Japan looks to other sources
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - After decades of struggling to reduce its excessively heavy reliance on the Middle East for its crude oil, Japan imported 2% less of the commodity from the region in 2006. Does this herald a lasting change in the nation's oil-import structure or represent just a statistical quirk?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japanese nuclear power steams ahead
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The Japanese government is committed to moving the nation's nuclear power industry to the next level using plutonium fuel even though public confidence has been shaken by repeated accidents and cover-ups. The bottom line is that resource-poor Japan has few other options for generating electricity.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Happy birthday to Kyoto, but ...
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan is proud of the fact that the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which went into effect two years ago this month, was negotiated in its ancient capital. That hasn't relieved the country of the hard task of meeting its obligation to reduce greenhouse emissions. The government is using many tools to try to bring Japan into compliance.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's dovish defense minister
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a reputation as a hawk. So why did he appoint a dove from Nagasaki, a city that still nurses grievances from the 1945 atomic bombing, as his defense minister? And why does he treat his colleague's repeated jibes against the US with only mild rebukes?
Full Article (Asia Times)
The political stakes are rising in Japan
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The political season has opened in Japan with a crucial election looming in July. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to campaign on constitutional reform. But the opposition thinks it has a more potent issue in the widening income gap, which they blame on reforms initiated by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Free trade: Japan and ... Switzerland?!
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan has key criteria for selecting free trade partners, and Switzerland fails to meet any of them. Why then are the two pushing to conclude a trade agreement by the end of the year? Could it have something to do with China? Or Tokyo's broader foreign policy imperatives?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Is Japan a Cultural Looter?
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan still has a long way to go before completely shedding its image as a safe haven for illegal cultural traders. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest national daily, reported recently that Italian authorities suspect that some Roman antiquities in Japanese museums may have been looted.
Full Article (Japan Focus)
Will BOJ tell Tokyo to take a hike?
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Ever since the Bank of Japan ended its zero-interest policy six months ago, global markets have been speculating endlessly on when it would raise rates again. Thursday could be the day. The betting is on a 0.25-percentage-point rise even though the government is dead against it, fearing that the fragile economic recovery might be killed off, along with its chances in upper house elections later this year. Will the central bank assert its independence and tell the government to take a hike?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japanese bigwig on surprise Pyongyang visit
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Europe trying to drum up support for a tough policy toward North Korea, a veteran parliamentarian of Abe's own party is in Pyongyang on his own peace mission. It is doubtful that Taku Yamasaki pulls enough weight to accomplish anything, except perhaps to undercut Abe's diplomacy.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japanese PM Abe sets out on a new-year mission
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - This month Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso fan out for a diplomatic blitz of Europe, Abe to the core nations of the NATO alliance, Aso to the fledgling alliance members in the east. On the agenda is a historic first visit to NATO headquarters, which underscores Japan's increasing ties with the nations of the Atlantic alliance.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Challenges ahead for Japan premier
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Topping new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's agenda are a revision of the postwar pacifist constitution and a hike in the broadly levied consumption tax, both of which will be highly divisive and potentially explosive issues for him as he tries to consolidate his grip on power by leading his ruling coalition to victory in next summer's triennial Upper House election.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan banks on energy, environment
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Growing concerns over energy supplies and global warming have prompted the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation, one of the world's biggest international financial institutions, to intensify its focus on energy security and the environment.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Slow starter Japan revs up FTA drive
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan initially distrusted free trade agreements, preferring to deal multilaterally. But as the Doha talks faltered and China charged ahead, Tokyo did a swift about-face and is now pushing deals with - well, just about everyone. Japan does not want to be left behind in the intensifying competition for oil and gas resources.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan, US tune up defense policies
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The upcoming "two plus two" meeting of foreign and defense chiefs from Japan and the US will be the first for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kyuma. They will discuss accelerated missile defenses, North Korea, base realignment and Iraq.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Qatar, Japan's energy white knight
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - "We're very committed to Japan," said Qatar's energy minister on a visit to Tokyo. That was music to Japanese ears, since Tokyo has suffered a spate of setbacks in its energy security strategy in recent months. Japanese firms are pouring money into Qatari infrastructure to assure its ability nearly to double gas exports to Japan by 2010.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan inches toward a full-fledged military
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Fulfilling a long-cherished conservative dream, the Japanese parliament is set to elevate the Defense Agency to the status of a full ministry. The action and companion laws are both symbolic and substantive. They should burnish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative credentials among nationalists worried he has gone soft on nationalism.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan nukes:Voicing the unthinkable
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Just to muse out loud that Japan might acquire nuclear weapons was once enough to get a Japanese minister sacked. Circumstances such as North Korea's atomic bomb have changed things. Japan is still averse to becoming a nuclear power, but that no longer stops prominent politicians talking about it.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan energy: Goodbye Iran, hello Iraq
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's goal of having domestic companies develop new energy resources was set back when geopolitics dictated that it scale back its interest in the Azadegan oilfield in Iran. So it has redirected its effort to Iraq, where it is a generous aid donor. But it will get competition from China, which is also eager to tap into Iraq's huge reserves.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Altering Japan's 'immortal code'
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - This Friday is Culture Day in Japan, an annual national holiday for promotion of culture and the love for freedom and peace. So will this year's Culture Day be any different from previous ones?
Full Article (Asia Times)
Russian energy roulette spooks Japanese
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Not long ago, Russia was begging the Japanese to invest in resource-rich Siberia. Now, flush with oil profits and bursting with energy nationalism, Moscow has temporarily blocked a Japanese-Dutch gas project on Sakhalin Island. The seemingly arbitrary action raises concerns about the risks of investing in Russia.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan: A boom without much bang
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The Japanese economy is on track next month to mark its longest expansion since the end of World War II, but nobody seems to be cheering. Instead, fears are growing of a slowdown in growth in the months ahead.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan's energy drive stalls over Iran
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Tensions over Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons program have led to Japan's Inpex Corp dramatically reducing its stake in the Azadegan oilfield, Iran's largest onshore reserve and the world's second-largest among fields discovered since the 1980s. The loss of its controlling interest in the US$2 billion project represents a significant setback for resource-poor Japan's energy security policy.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Abe tackles the high hurdles
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is off on a whirlwind fence-mending visit to China and South Korea, just as his predecessor did five years ago. That last effort proved to be a complete failure, as will Abe's unless he addresses fundamental underlying issues, including visits to Yasukuni Shrine. North Korea's posturing doesn't help Abe either.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Abe's multiple policy dilemmas
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has set out an imposing agenda that includes repairing strained relations with China and South Korea while strengthening the alliance with the US, revising the constitution and maintaining his predecessor's reform policies and economic growth. But even some of his nominal supporters worry about his hawkish views.
Full Article (Asia Times)
A Silver Lining for Graying Japan
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan will probably see its abysmally low birth rate rise for the first time in six years this year.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced in August that more than 549,000 babies were born between January and June this year, an increase of about 11,600 from the same period last year. Marriages also increased during the same period by about 10,000 from the year-earlier level.
The upward trend in both births and marriages is continuing.
Full Article (OhmyNews)
Tokyo takes a bigger stick to Pyongyang
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on North Korea over its missile and nuclear weapons programs. The measures are expected to have "considerable effect", but just in case, further restrictions are in the pipeline for use by premier-in-waiting Shinzo Abe, who has risen to prominence over his hard line on Pyongyang.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Another fund-guzzling white elephant?
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Resource-poor Japan is pumping no small amount of public funds into its energy drive to secure foreign oil, gas and other resources in a desperate bid to ensure its energy security amid spikes in oil prices.
Full Article (Crisscross)
Japan pushes the boundaries of self-defense
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Ostensibly for peaceful, non-military purposes, Japan has successfully launched its third intelligence-gathering satellite as part of recently revved-up efforts to boost its defense capabilities, either on its own or with its closest ally, the United States.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan Tries to Cash in on Oil Money
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - With the apparent backing of their government, Japanese banks are revving up their drive to tap the record amount of oil money being accrued in the Middle East amid consistently high oil prices.
Full Article (OhmyNews)
Japan exults in imperial birth
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan has been spared the prospect of a woman on the Chrysanthemum Throne with the birth of a boy. The child born to Princess Kiko and Prince Akishima assures male succession through the third generation and postpones political debate on allowing female succession
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan firmly on a conservative path
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Shinzo Abe formally enters the Japanese ruling party's presidential elections on Friday. That he will win this race, and then become prime minister, is almost certain. As premier he will oversee a new more nationalistic constitution and fresh initiatives aimed at strengthening Japan's alliance with the US.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Tokyo to bid for Olympic glory
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Tokyo on Wednesday beat Fukuoka for the right to make Japan's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, rekindling fond memories of when the city staged the Games in 1964. That period marked Japan's emergence as an economic powerhouse. By 2016, things could be different
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan Faces a New Russia
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The recent flare-up of a fishing row between Japan and Russia serves as a vivid reminder of how explosive the two countries' long-standing territorial disputes remain. It also reflects Russia's recent harder line on the World War II legacy. Flush with oil money, Russia is gaining the upper hand over Japan in diplomatic negotiations.
Full Article (OhmyNews)
Japan's foray into C Asia
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Energy resource-poor Japan is revving up its diplomatic drive to strengthen relations with the oil- and gas-rich countries of Central Asia in a bid to ensure its energy security amid stubbornly high oil prices.
Japan invited foreign ministers of Central Asian nations to talks in early June. And in a more significant move that highlights how passionately Japan is wooing the Central Asian nations, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who steps down in late September, will visit the region at the end of this month, becoming the first Japanese premier to do so.
Full Article (Crisscross)
Koizumi's last defiant gesture
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday kept his pledge to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the country's World War II surrender. As expected, China and South Korea are up in arms. Pressure mounts for the visits to cease, but there's no guarantee his successor won't follow suit
Full Article (Asia Times)
Japan takes on China in Africa
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - The increasingly fierce competition between Japan and China over energy and political influence is spilling over into Africa, with political leaders and oil companies from both countries making forays into the continent. But Beijing is aggressive and the odds now seem to be in China's favor.
Full Article (Asia Times)
Watch Koizumi on WWII Anniversary
By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - With just a week to go before Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, speculation is rife that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may visit a controversial Tokyo shrine on that day for the first time.
Full Article (OhmyNews)
TOKYO - Masaaki Shirakawa's appointment as Bank of Japan governor ends a long-running political standoff in time for the world's second-largest economy to be properly represented at this week's Group of Seven meeting of central bank leaders. Now he must show whether he can steer the country away from recession.
TOKYO - Gasoline price cuts in Japan could not have come at a more awkward time diplomatically for the world's second-biggest economy and major emitter of gases widely blamed for global warming.
TOKYO - The decision by Japan's Upper House to reject the government nomination of Toshiro Muto as Bank of Japan governor risks creating a vacuum at the central bank of the world's second-largest economy at a time of global financial crisis. It also further weakens the fragile position of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
TOKYO - Japan, keen to be a leader in creating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol and struggling to meet its goals under the existing deal, wants to buy greenhouse gas credits from Russia as a way towards hitting the targets. Natural gas from its northern neighbor will also come in handy.
TOKYO - Political tension is heating up in Japan over whether to extend the temporary higher rate for the gasoline tax, amid spikes in oil prices and growing concerns about global warming.
TOKYO - In his own words, the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda "has its back against the wall". After stepping in for Shinzo Abe in September, it was hoped his experience and moderate reputation would bring political stability, but political deadlock and unresolved scandals have stalled his Liberal Democratic Party's reform agenda and further enraged the public. Fukuda's political future is on the line.
TOKYO - Rising oil prices and a struggle to meet Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emission targets are prompting Japan to increase research into production of biofuels and encourage motorists to use the products. As it struggles to meet its targets, the government has to contend with the high costs of the alternatives to crude-oil products and a dispute with the petroleum industry
TOKYO - Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Tuesday won the first round in his battle to resume Japan's naval refueling role in the "war against terror" - and this just days before a meeting with US President George W Bush. But the reality of Japan's politics and other issues - such as North Korea - could yet erode the foundations of the long-time alliance with the US.
TOKYO - Japan's new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda says he wants to negotiate with the opposition to get the public's business enacted, but the Democratic Party of Japan will likely use its domination of the Upper House of the Diet to obstruct Fukuda's program and force a general election. The new premier may be another one-year wonder.
TOKYO - Having taken flight with the flamboyant reformer Junichiro Koizumi and then the youthful Shinzo Abe, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party seems poised to return to the old-style, faction-driven, bureaucracy-led politics symbolized by the current front-runner, Yasuo Fukuda, 71. One thing is certain: the next premier will be the scion of a former prime minister.
TOKYO - One would not think that a weakened and embattled political leader such as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be making threats to resign. But that's the latest tack Abe has taken by threatening to quit should the Diet refuse to extend Japan's support for allied operations in Afghanistan. His gamble might backfire.
TOKYO - Humbled by his party's historic defeat in the House of Councilors election one month ago and desperate to fend off calls for his resignation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has completely revamped his cabinet and the party hierarchy. But many of the "new faces" are old faces, and he will have trouble pushing any new initiatives through parliament.
TOKYO - When Japanese voters go to the polls for the House of Councilors (Upper House of the Diet, or parliament) elections on Sunday, an opposition victory is widely seen as a safe bet, and attention is focused on how big Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition will lose.
TOKYO - Yoshiaki Murakami and Takafumi Horie were once seen as exemplars of a new kind of Japanese businessman. But Horie fell in the Livedoor scandal, and now Murakami too has fallen, convicted of insider trading. These days they are seen more as crass money-grubbers than as real reformers of Japan Inc.
TOKYO - Foreign policymakers in the Land of the Rising Sun would be on Cloud 9 if they could turn the clock back just a few years and bask in the glow of seeing their nation vying for the status as the world's top aid donor again.
TOKYO - A political tsunami may sweep Japan soon and alter the nation's political landscape amid an ever swelling wave of public anger over the government's pension records-keeping fiasco and other scandals.
Will the government of beleaguered Prime Minister Shinzo Abe manage to keep itself afloat? Or will it be written off by voters and pensioned off in a key national election this month? Or will there
be any other sea-changes?
TOKYO - Long thought of as a food importer - and a protectionist par excellence - Japan has recently carved out a niche as an exporter of unique boutique foods and upscale rice. But Tokyo is increasingly worried about the quality of establishments billing themselves as "Japanese" restaurants and considered forming a "sushi police" force, until international cries forced them to reconsider.
TOKYO - Resource-strapped Japan's need for rare metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, platinum and cobalt has it mapping out a long-term strategy to ensure supplies. Increased official development assistance and free trade agreements are being used to this end.
TOKYO - The slight uptick in Japan's fertility rate in 2006 is nothing to celebrate. The long-term trends still indicate a country with fewer and fewer young people to support an aging population. This will eventually put a serious strain on Japan's international competitiveness as the working population thins out.
TOKYO - Former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui's visit to Japan is billed as a cultural and academic odyssey. But the staunchly pro-Japan, anti-China octogenarian's trip has "political implications" for Tokyo and Beijing, which want to keep the momentum of their warming relationship on track.
TOKYO - Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are prime targets of Japan's new "value-oriented" foreign policy. Although these countries are economically small, they are an increasingly important avenue to strengthened ties with the 10-member ASEAN bloc. And Japan is playing catch-up with China in the region, both economically and politically.
TOKYO - Japan is moving toward increased use of biofuels in cars both to curb global warming and for energy security. But the going is slow, with only a handful of stations now offering biofuel mixtures. Japan's domestic production of biofuels and their ingredients is negligible, which means the country will remain dependent on imports - though from Brazil rather than the volatile Middle East.
TOKYO - A decade after the devastating financial crisis that swept through Asia, 13 regional economies have agreed on an ambitious plan to launch a multilateral currency-swap scheme by pooling funds from the region's vast foreign-exchange reserves to weather similar upheavals in the future.
TOKYO - The past week has seen an unprecedented flurry of top-level Japanese diplomacy aimed at ensuring the resource-poor nation's energy security through stable supplies of oil and other resources.
TOKYO - Japan has kicked off negotiations with Australia on concluding a free-trade agreement (FTA), in a desperate bid to play catch-up in the ever-intensifying regional and global FTA race. The negotiations with Australia, launched this week, are particularly significant because they are Japan's first with a major agricultural exporter and are widely seen as a dry run for possible future talks with the United States.
TOKYO - Even as Japan's Diet takes the first step toward revising its pacifist constitution by passing a law enabling a national referendum on constitutional changes, public opinion is moving against any revision. As the prospect of changing the charter, and its war-renouncing Article 9, comes closer, more Japanese are getting cold feet.
TOKYO - Flowers bloom in spring after the melting of snow and ice. And so, maybe, will relations between Tokyo and Beijing after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's "ice-melting" journey to Japan.
TOKYO - When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with US President George W Bush in Washington this month, he will come bearing gifts. The most important is his government's support for a two-year extension of its air force mission in Kuwait and Iraq. Though its involvement is unpopular at home, Japan has been a steadfast partner of the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
TOKYO - Japan's financial markets are abuzz with two questions: How many more times will the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raise interest rates before its governor, Toshihiko Fukui, almost certainly steps down in a year's time, and then who will step into his shoes?
TOKYO - In an effort to turn Inpex Holdings, Japan's largest oil and natural gas developer, into an enterprise that is even more powerful than its rival international oil majors, Tokyo has been aggressively expanding its overseas business in the past year.
TOKYO - The US, Japan and India will hold their first-ever joint military exercises in waters near Japan in April. This is one of the first tangible fruits of Tokyo's efforts to stitch together an "axis of democracy" linking Japan with the US, Australia and the world's largest democracy, India. New Delhi is in the enviable position of being courted by Japan, the US and China
TOKYO - It's not the fictional Super X project, designed to defend Tokyo, in the Godzilla movie series. It's a real project designed to shield Japan - the capital first and other parts of the country later - from a real threat.
TOKYO - He burst on the Japanese business scene like a rocket. But Livedoor's former president Takafumi Horie crashed in flames, guilty of fraud and securities-law violations. Fans say Horie breathed new life into a moribund business climate, but the equity market for startups has not yet recovered from the "Livedoor shock".
TOKYO - Japan has signed with Australia only its second bilateral security agreement since the end of World War II. The agreement, which does not commit either party to defend the other, rests primarily on commonality of interests as free-market democracies. The Chinese may view it as another attempt by Western-oriented nations to contain its rise.
TOKYO - As their political relations slowly improve, Tokyo and Beijing are set to resume talks on disputed natural-gas deposits in the East China Sea, an issue that has been a major source of diplomatic friction between the Asian neighbors for many years.
TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may find himself in a box of his own construction over how to deal with the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea and his own comments regarding Imperial Japan's recruiting (or coercion) of women to serve as prostitutes for soldiers during World War II, an issue that particularly animates South Korea.
TOKYO - There was no movement on resolving territorial disputes during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's recent visit to Tokyo. But the visit also showed that resolving the Kuril Islands issue isn't the be-all and end-all of Russo-Japanese relations. Japanese businesses are showing a growing interest in investing in economically booming Russia.
TOKYO - You might wonder why Tokyo rolled out the red carpet to honor Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar this week. For one thing, Ulan Bator graciously gave up its turn on the UN Security Council for Japan. More than that, Japan and Mongolia have been cultivating close relations for many years
TOKYO - The launch of a new radar satellite on Saturday, if successful, will complete Japan's planned four-satellite system for intelligence gathering. While it cannot, under the country's constitution, be labeled a "spy" satellite, many experts agree that the nation needs to boost its space-based surveillance capabilities
TOKYO - Taking its cue from recent robust economic data, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has raised interest rates for the first time in seven months, by a quarter percentage point to 0.5%, in an attempt to rectify what the central bank itself views as the "abnormal" state of the credit policy.
TOKYO - After decades of struggling to reduce its excessively heavy reliance on the Middle East for its crude oil, Japan imported 2% less of the commodity from the region in 2006. Does this herald a lasting change in the nation's oil-import structure or represent just a statistical quirk?
TOKYO - The Japanese government is committed to moving the nation's nuclear power industry to the next level using plutonium fuel even though public confidence has been shaken by repeated accidents and cover-ups. The bottom line is that resource-poor Japan has few other options for generating electricity.
TOKYO - Japan is proud of the fact that the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which went into effect two years ago this month, was negotiated in its ancient capital. That hasn't relieved the country of the hard task of meeting its obligation to reduce greenhouse emissions. The government is using many tools to try to bring Japan into compliance.
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a reputation as a hawk. So why did he appoint a dove from Nagasaki, a city that still nurses grievances from the 1945 atomic bombing, as his defense minister? And why does he treat his colleague's repeated jibes against the US with only mild rebukes?
TOKYO - The political season has opened in Japan with a crucial election looming in July. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to campaign on constitutional reform. But the opposition thinks it has a more potent issue in the widening income gap, which they blame on reforms initiated by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.
TOKYO - Japan has key criteria for selecting free trade partners, and Switzerland fails to meet any of them. Why then are the two pushing to conclude a trade agreement by the end of the year? Could it have something to do with China? Or Tokyo's broader foreign policy imperatives?
TOKYO - Japan still has a long way to go before completely shedding its image as a safe haven for illegal cultural traders. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest national daily, reported recently that Italian authorities suspect that some Roman antiquities in Japanese museums may have been looted.
TOKYO - Ever since the Bank of Japan ended its zero-interest policy six months ago, global markets have been speculating endlessly on when it would raise rates again. Thursday could be the day. The betting is on a 0.25-percentage-point rise even though the government is dead against it, fearing that the fragile economic recovery might be killed off, along with its chances in upper house elections later this year. Will the central bank assert its independence and tell the government to take a hike?
TOKYO - While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Europe trying to drum up support for a tough policy toward North Korea, a veteran parliamentarian of Abe's own party is in Pyongyang on his own peace mission. It is doubtful that Taku Yamasaki pulls enough weight to accomplish anything, except perhaps to undercut Abe's diplomacy.
TOKYO - This month Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso fan out for a diplomatic blitz of Europe, Abe to the core nations of the NATO alliance, Aso to the fledgling alliance members in the east. On the agenda is a historic first visit to NATO headquarters, which underscores Japan's increasing ties with the nations of the Atlantic alliance.
TOKYO - Topping new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's agenda are a revision of the postwar pacifist constitution and a hike in the broadly levied consumption tax, both of which will be highly divisive and potentially explosive issues for him as he tries to consolidate his grip on power by leading his ruling coalition to victory in next summer's triennial Upper House election.
TOKYO - Growing concerns over energy supplies and global warming have prompted the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation, one of the world's biggest international financial institutions, to intensify its focus on energy security and the environment.
TOKYO - Japan initially distrusted free trade agreements, preferring to deal multilaterally. But as the Doha talks faltered and China charged ahead, Tokyo did a swift about-face and is now pushing deals with - well, just about everyone. Japan does not want to be left behind in the intensifying competition for oil and gas resources.
TOKYO - The upcoming "two plus two" meeting of foreign and defense chiefs from Japan and the US will be the first for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kyuma. They will discuss accelerated missile defenses, North Korea, base realignment and Iraq.
TOKYO - "We're very committed to Japan," said Qatar's energy minister on a visit to Tokyo. That was music to Japanese ears, since Tokyo has suffered a spate of setbacks in its energy security strategy in recent months. Japanese firms are pouring money into Qatari infrastructure to assure its ability nearly to double gas exports to Japan by 2010.
TOKYO - Fulfilling a long-cherished conservative dream, the Japanese parliament is set to elevate the Defense Agency to the status of a full ministry. The action and companion laws are both symbolic and substantive. They should burnish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative credentials among nationalists worried he has gone soft on nationalism.
TOKYO - Just to muse out loud that Japan might acquire nuclear weapons was once enough to get a Japanese minister sacked. Circumstances such as North Korea's atomic bomb have changed things. Japan is still averse to becoming a nuclear power, but that no longer stops prominent politicians talking about it.
TOKYO - Japan's goal of having domestic companies develop new energy resources was set back when geopolitics dictated that it scale back its interest in the Azadegan oilfield in Iran. So it has redirected its effort to Iraq, where it is a generous aid donor. But it will get competition from China, which is also eager to tap into Iraq's huge reserves.
TOKYO - This Friday is Culture Day in Japan, an annual national holiday for promotion of culture and the love for freedom and peace. So will this year's Culture Day be any different from previous ones?
TOKYO - Not long ago, Russia was begging the Japanese to invest in resource-rich Siberia. Now, flush with oil profits and bursting with energy nationalism, Moscow has temporarily blocked a Japanese-Dutch gas project on Sakhalin Island. The seemingly arbitrary action raises concerns about the risks of investing in Russia.
TOKYO - The Japanese economy is on track next month to mark its longest expansion since the end of World War II, but nobody seems to be cheering. Instead, fears are growing of a slowdown in growth in the months ahead.
TOKYO - Tensions over Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons program have led to Japan's Inpex Corp dramatically reducing its stake in the Azadegan oilfield, Iran's largest onshore reserve and the world's second-largest among fields discovered since the 1980s. The loss of its controlling interest in the US$2 billion project represents a significant setback for resource-poor Japan's energy security policy.
TOKYO - Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is off on a whirlwind fence-mending visit to China and South Korea, just as his predecessor did five years ago. That last effort proved to be a complete failure, as will Abe's unless he addresses fundamental underlying issues, including visits to Yasukuni Shrine. North Korea's posturing doesn't help Abe either.
TOKYO - Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has set out an imposing agenda that includes repairing strained relations with China and South Korea while strengthening the alliance with the US, revising the constitution and maintaining his predecessor's reform policies and economic growth. But even some of his nominal supporters worry about his hawkish views.
TOKYO - Japan on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on North Korea over its missile and nuclear weapons programs. The measures are expected to have "considerable effect", but just in case, further restrictions are in the pipeline for use by premier-in-waiting Shinzo Abe, who has risen to prominence over his hard line on Pyongyang.
TOKYO - Resource-poor Japan is pumping no small amount of public funds into its energy drive to secure foreign oil, gas and other resources in a desperate bid to ensure its energy security amid spikes in oil prices.
TOKYO - Ostensibly for peaceful, non-military purposes, Japan has successfully launched its third intelligence-gathering satellite as part of recently revved-up efforts to boost its defense capabilities, either on its own or with its closest ally, the United States.
TOKYO - With the apparent backing of their government, Japanese banks are revving up their drive to tap the record amount of oil money being accrued in the Middle East amid consistently high oil prices.
TOKYO - Japan has been spared the prospect of a woman on the Chrysanthemum Throne with the birth of a boy. The child born to Princess Kiko and Prince Akishima assures male succession through the third generation and postpones political debate on allowing female succession
TOKYO - Shinzo Abe formally enters the Japanese ruling party's presidential elections on Friday. That he will win this race, and then become prime minister, is almost certain. As premier he will oversee a new more nationalistic constitution and fresh initiatives aimed at strengthening Japan's alliance with the US.
TOKYO - Tokyo on Wednesday beat Fukuoka for the right to make Japan's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, rekindling fond memories of when the city staged the Games in 1964. That period marked Japan's emergence as an economic powerhouse. By 2016, things could be different
TOKYO - The recent flare-up of a fishing row between Japan and Russia serves as a vivid reminder of how explosive the two countries' long-standing territorial disputes remain. It also reflects Russia's recent harder line on the World War II legacy. Flush with oil money, Russia is gaining the upper hand over Japan in diplomatic negotiations.
TOKYO - Energy resource-poor Japan is revving up its diplomatic drive to strengthen relations with the oil- and gas-rich countries of Central Asia in a bid to ensure its energy security amid stubbornly high oil prices.
Japan invited foreign ministers of Central Asian nations to talks in early June. And in a more significant move that highlights how passionately Japan is wooing the Central Asian nations, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who steps down in late September, will visit the region at the end of this month, becoming the first Japanese premier to do so.
TOKYO - Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday kept his pledge to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the country's World War II surrender. As expected, China and South Korea are up in arms. Pressure mounts for the visits to cease, but there's no guarantee his successor won't follow suit
TOKYO - The increasingly fierce competition between Japan and China over energy and political influence is spilling over into Africa, with political leaders and oil companies from both countries making forays into the continent. But Beijing is aggressive and the odds now seem to be in China's favor.
TOKYO - With just a week to go before Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, speculation is rife that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may visit a controversial Tokyo shrine on that day for the first time.
