Author: Michael Cucek, MIT Centre for International Studies

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reshuffled his cabinet on 13 January, prior to the 24 January opening of the Diet’s regular session.

The reshuffle was preordained; the opposition-dominated House of Councillors censured two of Noda’s cabinet ministers on the last day of the extraordinary session last year. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

As Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years, settles into office, much speculation surrounds the various internal party appointments taking place inside the troubled ruling Democratic Party of Japan.

In particular, the purported return to influence of Ichiro Ozawa, via Noda’s appointment to prominent positions of numerous Ozawa allies, is attracting much attention. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

On 27 July, the race to replace Naoto Kan as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, and consequently as prime minister, officially began.

First out of the blocks was former Minister of the Environment Sakihito Ozawa, who recently released a policy statement and a declaration of his candidacy for the presidency of the DPJ. Second among the potential candidates to semi-declare was Sumio Mabuchi, the former minister of transport. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has this month passed the year mark in the country’s top office, besting the records of his four immediate predecessors.

However, according to media reports, the prime minister is dangling in limbo, with groups in his own Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) poised to move against him. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

On 22 February, the Standing Officers Council of the Democratic Party of Japan voted to suspend the party rights of Ichiro Ozawa — less than six months after Ozawa was one of the two candidates for leadership of the party.

The decision marks a significant turning point for the current DPJ leadership as it attempts to mollify public displeasure over Ozawa’s continued membership and influence in the party. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

On October 4, the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution released its second determination, mandating that Ozawa Ichiro, the former leader and secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), be indicted for crimes related to a land deal carried out by his political fundraising organisation, the Rikuzankai. In particular, the committee determined that there was sufficient evidence pointing to Ozawa having directed his subordinates to file misleading and incomplete financial reports with oversight officials.

The now inevitable indictment of Ozawa will not have an immediate impact on the surface. Ozawa will retain his Diet seat and will continue to serve as a full member with all the duties and privileges of office. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek, MIT

Japan is a parliamentary democracy, but somehow the country is suddenly in the midst of a presidential election. There are two candidates, each with a distinct ideological cant and consequent distinct set of policy prescriptions. Both have their core supporters leaving the pair battling, quite publicly, for the allegiance of undecided voters. Unlike battles of the old days, where intra-party clashes were solved with promises of Cabinet and party posts or even exchanges of cash, the successful candidate in this election will likely have to charm the voters capable of putting him over the 50 per cent line. To capture these hearts and minds, both candidates are taking to the airwaves and the streets.

On the one side of the ledger is Ozawa Ichiro. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek

What is actual size of Japan’s national debt and the management of its national assets?
Why is net debt rather than gross debt the more important number to keep in mind regarding Japan’s financial position? What are the main assets aside from Japan Post and shares in JT that the Government of Japan should sell in order to finance its budget deficit, staving off for a while the imposition of a rise in the consumption tax?

Richard Katz, Editor-in-Chief, The Oriental Economist

The financial burden of the debt equals the net amount that the government as a whole owes to the private sector. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek

Prime Minister Kan Naoto has over a weekend revamped the line up of main executives of Democratic Party of Japan and the ministers of the Cabinet.

From the look of the new administration and speculation printed in the nation’s newspapers, it is seems the DPJ is undertaking a massive shift away from the course it has been following since 2005. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek

In the first book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, protagonist Arthur Dent escapes Earth as the unwelcome guest of the Vogons – a race of nasty-tempered, ugly-minded, hideous-looking space-faring bureaucrats infamous for being the third worst poets in the Universe. ‘On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry to you,’ warns the Guide.

Vogons, it seems, have nothing on Hatoyama Yukio’s speechwriters. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek

A viewer of television news in Japan has long enjoyed a wide variety of news programs, with six large terrestrial networks competing with one another for viewers. Competition encouraged a mild but sincere form of specialisation, with particular news organisations framing the facts in a manner pleasing to a particular constituency.

Since formation in September of a Democratic Party of Japan-dominated government, a strange phenomenon has made itself manifest. On any given night one can flip back and forth between the Fuji TV and Nippon TV networks and find the two newscasts nearly identical. The clothing and the sets change but the editorial stance, the rumors, even the vocabulary, are nearly indistinguishable. Read more…

Author: Michael Cucek

For the past week the citizens of Japan have been the stunned witnesses of an unfamiliar phenomenon: a new regime addressing the excesses of its predecessor. In clockwork proceedings of subdued brutality, the grimly-named Government Revitalization Unit (GRU) has been reviewing the budgetary support of 447 programs, a fraction of the thicket of government supported programs that had proliferated over the fifty-four year rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

For those watching the live webcasts or the excerpts broadcast on nightly television, the proceedings have been the first solid evidence that the government is serious about bringing change to Japan. Read more…