Author: Yoichi Funabashi

I was in Washington, DC recently while congressional hearings were held into the massive recalls announced by Toyota Motor Corp. I sensed that public sentiment in the United States was rapidly becoming critical of the auto giant, which is now a synonym with lemons.

An article published in the New York Times on February 21 under the headline, ‘Doubts raised on book’s tale of atom bomb’, drove home the point to me. The newspaper noted that the author of ‘The Last Train From Hiroshima,’ Charles Pelegrino, used quotes from an individual who falsely claimed he was a last-minute substitute on an observation plane that accompanied the Enola Gay on its mission to destroy Hiroshima by atomic bombing. An expert is quoted in the article as saying, ‘This book is a Toyota. The publisher should recall it, issue an apology and fix the parts that endanger the historical record.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

To mark the 50th anniversary this year of the signing of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, the two governments have declared their intention to ‘deepen’ the alliance. They aim to create a new vision for the alliance by November, when U.S. President Barack Obama plans to visit Japan.

But Japan-U.S. relations are experiencing a rocky patch, mainly due to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s decision to re-examine from scratch a 2006 agreement on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture. In the United States, an increasingly critical perception has taken hold over what the Hatoyama administration is trying to achieve.

In an editorial on 28 January, The New York Times noted ‘there are worrying signs that many of Japan’s new leaders and its postwar generation don’t understand the full value of the security partnership.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

This year will be the crucial test of whether the administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan can develop into a vigorous, staying force. Its greatest challenges lie in the areas of diplomacy and national security.

On January 4th, in his first news conference of the year, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said, ‘About half of domestic politics is, in a sense, taken up by foreign affairs and national security.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

The rise to power of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) after half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could bring profound changes to Japan.

One change will surely be generational: the new leaders, including Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, will be the first with little memory of World War II. Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Funabashi Yoichi, Asahi

With U.S. President Barack Obama scheduled to arrive Friday for a two-day visit, Tokyo and Washington are still fumbling to get on the same wavelength.

Although Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has repeatedly stressed that his government’s diplomacy would be centered on the alliance with the United States, many in the Obama camp have their doubts. Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

Bureaucratic memos have no place in the new administration led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan.

His Cabinet members make a point of not looking at, let alone reading from, memos submitted by bureaucrats at ministerial committee meetings and news conferences.

Of course, his ministers let bureaucrats offer their input on relevant data, but they do not want any memos instructing them on what to say.

Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

All summer long, the nation was abuzz with excitement. And at the end, just about everybody was overwhelmed at the result.

But I don’t think it was frenzy that moved them. In 2005, with a Lower House election that focused on the single issue of postal privatization, voters cheered for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, yelling his nickname ‘Jun-chan!’ But nothing of the sort happened this time around. Behind the seemingly feverish excitement was the public’s deep frustration at, and yearning to break, the nation’s status quo.

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Author: Yoichi Funabashi

Halfway through the 2004 U.S. presidential primaries, a taxi driver engaged me in conversation as he drove me from a hotel in Qingdao, in the eastern part of China’s Shandong province, to the airport.

‘In the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats appeal to the public by highlighting the differences in their policies. That is why there is dynamism in their politics,’ he said. ‘In China, with the Kuomintang in Taiwan becoming more realistic, what would happen if a two-party system was set up with the Communist Party and the Kuomintang and have the two alternate in government? By the way, what is the situation in Japan? Are there two major parties in Japan like in the United States? Are they competing with each other? What are the choices presented to the people?’

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Author: Yoichi Funabashi

As the global economic crisis tightens the future of the world, the capitalist system looks grim: major countries find their interest rates approaching zero, leaving little room for manoeuvring. Massive fiscal stimulus programs threaten to ignite inflation, higher interest rates and free fall of the US dollar.

On top of these gaping policy pitfalls, anti-globalisation sentiments will likely gain momentum, inevitably spilling over into the political realm.

The world thus faces the combined dangers of over-regulation of the market, stifled innovation, rampant protectionism and, ultimately, the erosion of the liberal international order.

Against this dire backdrop, capitalism is likely to take divergent courses in different countries. The solution to the current crisis may no longer be the earlier call for a ‘new Bretton Woods’ but closer co-ordination among the major economies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

Amid the global economic crisis, Prime Minister Taro Aso is engaging in top diplomacy at full throttle.

After flying to London to attend the Group of 20 summit, Aso traveled to Pattaya, Thailand, for the abbreviated East Asia Summit.

He hosted an international conference in Tokyo of nations providing assistance to Pakistan.

And today, Aso flies to China, and then Europe, before he welcomes Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after the Golden Week holidays in May.

However, regardless of how high and far Aso flies, the concept and message of Japanese diplomacy is not being conveyed forcefully because the instability of the domestic economy and political sector has left that diplomacy in a feeble state.

Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

The U.S.—Europe—Japan triad, representing the world’s three largest economies, is in simultaneous recession for the first time in the post-World War II era. China, meanwhile, is suddenly seeing its 30-year economic dynamism lose steam, with its mighty export machine not just stalling but actually slipping into reverse.

This tangle only promises to tighten.

In this Washington Quarterly, I examine the current crisis and the challenges that we shall face on a grander scale. The crisis demands greater procedural vision, rather than an entirely new structural vision. The G7 and G20 desperately need to be strengthened, and, as power shifts eastwards, a robust Asia-Pacific strategy is necessary, with U.S.-China-Japan trilateral cooperation at its centre.

For the full article, please see here [.pdf].

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton looks “presidential.” She carries herself in a dignified and distinguished manner befitting that of the ideal vision of a president.

This is shown in her concise comments, solid logic, thoughtfulness, physical and mental toughness and her awareness of her role as her nation’s chief diplomat.

Her responses to my interview earlier this week were straightforward; she did not evade any question.

She paused briefly at one point to sip her tea, taken with no sugar or milk, and did not forget to smile before continuing.

While the interview lasted only about 10 minutes, her presence and answers spoke volumes and demonstrated that American diplomacy would be a vigorous one as she works in tandem with President Barack Obama.

Read the rest of this entry »

Author: Yoichi Funabashi

In his Jan. 20 inaugural address, U.S. President Barack Obama described the current crisis facing the United States as a “winter of our hardship,” harking back to the difficulties confronting the nation at its very birth, and called on Americans to take on the latest crisis with recognition of the responsibilities they must bear.

His words were prosaic and dry of emotion. But they were overflowing with a sense of history that demonstrated a realization that his administration was beginning amid a crisis that rivaled the war for independence and the founding of the nation as well as the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II.

The Obama administration needs to address a number of serious challenges simultaneously: resuscitating capitalism, a “rollback” of global warming, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the fight against terrorism, finding common ground with the Muslim world, facing the rise of China and combating global poverty.

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Author: Yoichi Funabashi, Editor in Chief, the Asahi Shimbun

“Japan, don’t lose your confidence.”

That, in a nutshell, is the message outgoing U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer had for Japan during my exclusive interview with him on Tuesday.

As Japan’s main ally, the United States is concerned about recent trends in this country, including its tendency to turn inward–perhaps due to a loss of confidence–while apparently forgetting that it is still a “major player” in the world. There is also the question of its failure to clearly define its role in the world and to exercise that role more fully.

Such concerns can be discerned from the comments made by the U.S. ambassador.

Read the rest of this entry »

Special Author: Yoichi Funabashi, Editor-in-Chief, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

‘The magic is over.’

So said French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, referring to the financial crisis that originated in Wall Street and the battered global standing of the United States.

Under a formula of low interest rates and financial leverage, the US government and investment banks choreographed an asset-inflated housing-bubble boom, enabling Americans to go on a spending free-for-all on the strength of debt.

That alchemy no longer works.

The credit crunch spread from the financial arena to the automotive sector, along with discount stores and government, eventually hitting family finances hard and dragging the global economy into recession.

Read the rest of this entry »