Author: Aurelia George Mulgan

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is putting on a show in its efforts to curb waste in Japan’s bureaucracy. No ministry was spared the scrutiny of the Government Revitalisation Unit (GRU) working groups which has publically reviewed government support of a large number of projects. Is it all a show or will the DPJ effect real change?

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) had 40 projects screened [see Table 1 below], which was the most, followed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) with 35, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) with 32 and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) with 31 not far behind. Budget allocations to the MEST’s ‘independent administrative corporations’ (dokuritsu gyōsei hōjin) were particularly well scrutinised as was expenditure by MAFF ‘funds’ (kikin) and the MHWL’s ‘public interest corporations’ (kōeki hojin).

These figures are partly a reflection of the prevalence of different organisational types amongst the semi-administrative bodies connected to particular ministries. Read more…

Author: Peter Drysdale

From Thursday through to Saturday last week almost 200 officials, academics and commentators from around the Asia Pacific region gathered at the invitation of the Australian Government to talk about Prime Minister Rudd’s idea of an Asia Pacific Community at the 2009 Asia-Pacific community Conference. This was the one-and-a-half track dialogue that Rudd had promised to convene at the Shangri-la meeting in Singapore in September.

Whether or not Mr Rudd won over their minds to his proposal, as one of the more sceptical guests observed, he certainly won over the hearts of each and every participant. He did this by paying careful attention to ASEAN sensibilities about the idea in his opening address and with his warm personal and individual hospitality at Kirribilli House.

What did the conference deliver on substance? Read more…