Category Archives: Japanese Politics

If the politicians are going to scream and shout and profess to be shocked, just shocked, that another politician (but never themselves, of course) could have accepted a contribution from someone who does not have Japanese nationality, the next obvious … Continue reading →

Some years ago, there was a lot of sound and fury about privatizing the postal service. Not only was it going to be broken up into separate banking,  insurance, and postal companies, these were then to be privatized. As it … Continue reading →

One of the television networks (NNN) reported on a public opinion survey they did over the weekend. According to the report, Prime Minister Kan’s approval rating was down 0.3 points. This was mentioned several times. Take the dose on empty … Continue reading →

There was a story in the July 31 Asahi (Japanese-language) newspaper about a study that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did in 1984 and then kept secret. This was a study of what would happen if one of Japan’s nuclear … Continue reading →

The Kan Administration has announced a policy package of (1) promoting energy-saving, which will likely include promoting the development of energy-frugal lifestyles and products, (2) gradually phasing out Japan’s dependence on nuclear power, (3) splitting the transmission grid off from … Continue reading →

The massive bill for rebuilding the areas devastated by the earthquake/tsunami/TEPCO disaster has necessarily strained government finances. As a result, there is a very understandable cutting back on some other programs. Unfortunately, this “other programs” does not include military spending … Continue reading →

I was talking with a friend the other day who complained that PM Kan is not demonstrating any leadership. His proof? He’s just saying the same thing everybody else is saying. On the shift away from nuclear power and to … Continue reading →

Prime Minister Kan has put nationalization on the table by mentioning it in the Diet. Of course, this looks hugely radical. But it is not. The risks, as we have seen with Fukushima, are already nationalized. So why not the … Continue reading →

I was watching an NHK “special” talk show about nuclear power and all this evening. The discussion started with a “should the plants currently shut down for inspection/repairs be restarted once they are declared safe?” question. But it quickly moved … Continue reading →

Prime Minister Kan has called for rethinking Japan’s energy policy. Needless to say, there are lots of people who are happy with the old policy of building more and more nuclear power plants and are thus unhappy with Kan. This … Continue reading →