links for 2007-01-09

“Japan is to create a full-fledged defense ministry for the first time since its World War II defeat, when the United States stripped the country of its right to a military.”

Talk about regional ties: “Former [Korean] Prime Minister Goh Kun is considering making the construction of an undersea tunnel linking South Korea and Japan as a key campaign pledge for the Dec. 19 presidential election, Goh’s aides said on Sunday.”

Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit Japan soon, he’s said.

“Abe’s ‘soft’ offensive (an opposition politician called it the “puppy-dog” approach) has reassured Japan’s neighbors and much of the Japanese media and public, but it has masked a very ambitious agenda.”

In a rare original piece, CDT has this solid retelling of the ordeal of Gao Qinrong, a journalist who had been jailed in China for six years.