Tag: Japan

  • What kind of 'hawk' is Japan's Shinzo Abe? Probably not the kind you think

    Shinzo Abe became prime minister of Japan in December, more than six years after he first took the job, succeeding long-serving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2006. In the U.S. press especially, Abe is often termed a “nationalist” or “hawk” for supporting expanded military activities and a potential revision of the Japanese constitution. Crystal…


  • Key U.S.–Japan meeting overshadowed by U.S.–China diplomacy

    BEIJING — As Japanese Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko visited the White House Monday, the continued strength of the U.S.–Japan relationship was a central message. But this first Washington summit of U.S. and Japanese leaders since the Democratic Party of Japan took control in 2009 was overshadowed in the transpacific news cycle by the U.S. relationship…


  • Five Years of Transpacifica: Five New Japanese Prime Ministers

    I’m in transit these days, moving for the time being from Seattle to New York. This is a perfect opportunity to look back on what I’ve written in this space since I started here just over five years ago, on Aug. 18, 2006. Looking back, I found some early speculation about what Aso Taro, then…


  • 'Crisis in Japan: The Way Forward' at Harvard [live blog]

    I’m going to be blogging my notes from Harvard’s “Crisis in Japan: The Way Forward” event, ongoing now with live video here. Usual caveats apply: this is an unedited draft; notes not in quotes are paraphrased; quotes not checked against recording. Starting at 4:09 p.m. EDT. Working to create a digital archive. Prof. Andrew Gordon…


  • The rise of Yukio Edano?

    With the world’s attention on the unfolding tragedy in Japan, I completed a short interview this week with Daniel Sneider of Stanford on the post-quake future of Japanese politics. It’s online now at NBR. One of Sneider’s most interesting points was that, as the Kan administration works through the present crisis, the prominence of Chief…