Authors: Takashi Oka and Llewelyn Hughes

There are two narratives about Ichiro Ozawa, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). One is that he is a wizard at elections. This reputation was enhanced by his masterminding of the DPJ’s 2009 electoral strategy that helped bring about the first real change of government through the ballot box in sixty years.

The second is that, rather than being a politician of firm convictions, Ozawa is a machine politician animated by the desire to secure and retain power for its own sake. Investigations into alleged corruption fuel this narrative. Read more…

Author: Llewelyn Hughes, George Washington University

Newly elected Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama made headlines at the UN General Assembly in September 2009, pledging his country to a 25 per cent cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. In doing so, he placed Japan’s negotiating position ahead of other developed countries’ at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). The conference opened in Copenhagen on December 7.

The question is: why has Japan raced ahead of the United States and Europe? Read more…