The Japanese\ngovernment can, at times, be quite the fickle mistress. Constant sways in\nfactional leadership provide an already never-ending entertainment value to the\nruling Liberal Democratic Party, while the national-level debates and arguments\nprovide enough food for thought for the nation. Just this week, however, we\u2019ve\nseen a proclivity of action unlike much of what we\u2019ve experienced this year.\nDue to the excruciatingly \u2018juicy\u2019 nature of these happenings, we\u2019ve authored\nthis post to help outsiders and insiders alike catch up and get familiar with the\nmost recent conflicts, issues, and legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collective-Defense\nLegislation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While a number\nof papers and journals are predicting a passage of the Abe administration\u2019s\nlandmark defense legislation within September, an interesting hurdle has been\nshoved in their way: \u201cthe enemy.\u201d This enemy is, perhaps fittingly, the current\nelephant in the economic room, The People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside the\ncurrent economic volatility (or, \u2018correction\u2019, as some would argue), Abe\u2019s\nadministration put itself in an interesting little predicament internationally\nwhen a \u201cscheduling conflict\u201d was discovered that prevented Prime Minister Abe\nfrom heading to a military parade being held in Beijing. This \u201cconflict\u201d was only\nmade clear once the administration found out that this military parade was not\na mere march, but a celebration by China of their wartime victory over the\nJapanese empire. Oops\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the\nLDP faces two distinct options in passing through the legislation: gather\nenough support before September 11th<\/sup>, the official \u201ccut-off\u201d date\nfor deliberations on the bill; or, wait until September 14th<\/sup>, which\nwould automatically bring the bills before a vote in the Lower House (current\ndeliberations are within the Upper House), which would most likely see them\npassed by a 2\/3rds majority, but risk a tremendous drop in Abe\u2019s numbers should\nhe see them forced through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Further factors affecting\ndeliberations include the upcoming LDP election (scheduled for September 8th<\/sup>\nfrom 8:00am-9:00am) as well as the upcoming Silver Week holidays (September 21st<\/sup>\n\u2013 23rd<\/sup>); meaning that the bills will need to be passed between the\n14th<\/sup> and the 18th<\/sup>, or risk their passage at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These continuing\nbrawls over the already-controversial defense legislation have lead to a\n10-point drop in Abe\u2019s ratings and a renewed negativity on the legislation\u2019s\nimportance (or lack thereof).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Power,\nNuclear or Otherwise:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\naforementioned drop in Abe\u2019s approval rating also coincided with the restart of\nthe Sendai 1 nuclear reactor located in Kyushu, the first restart of a nuclear\npower plant after the events of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and subsequent\nnuclear meltdown. Surprisingly, this restart did not actually affect Prime\nMinister Abe\u2019s ratings, despite the still-massive public opposition to the\ncontinued use of nuclear power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This brings up\nan interesting note on \u201cPower\u201d in Japanese politics; specifically, elections\nand their timing. More often than not, politicians will run for office multiple\ntimes, but not to become elected. Oh no, sometimes they run just to leave their\nmark, gather supporters, and\/or improve their public standing. More recent examples\nof this include former Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Taro Aso, who both\nran for Prime Minister three times, lost three times, and finally won on their fourth\nand final try. Representative and former Minister Shigeru Ishiba is currently well\ninto this process, having run and lost for the Prime Ministerial position\ntwice, while his nearly three decades of Representative-ship have gone nearly\nunchallenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the current\nterm, though, many in the Abe government seemed to have changed their mind,\nfinding a Prime Minister run \u201cpointless\u201d in the face of fair-to-good ratings\nfor Prime Minister Abe, and a less than stellar backing for anyone else within\nthe Liberal Democratic Party itself. This lack of internal backing mainly\ncenters from the 7 factions, whose membership account for about 70% of the\nLDP\u2019s membership on the whole. All of these factions are in (at the least\nnominal) support of Prime Minister Abe, guaranteeing a victory should he face\nany opposition within the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the Diet\nitself, the LDP currently boasts 36 members in the Lower House who have been\nelected 6, 7, or 8+ times. This thereby makes them eligible to become\ncandidates for Ministerial posts, setting the stage for a possible reshuffle post-LDP\nelection. With the exception of Minister of Land, Infrastructure,\nTransportation and Tourism Akihiro Ota, however, all Ministerial posts are\ncurrently held by members of the LDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wait,\nHow?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does a\npolitician run for Prime Minister? Simply, he or she needs 20 signatures of\nsupport from fellow members of the Diet. Of course, this is far more easily\nsaid than done, but there are a few in government now who are making a try, at\nthe very least. One of particular note is Representative Seiko Noda, one of the\nrare faction-less members of the LDP who have strong Ministerial experience\n(oh, and also just so happens to be female). She does, however, face a few\nsignificant problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first is\nsupport: while she has seen to have the ability to \u201cget butts in seats\u201d with a\nrecent fundraiser\/party attended by 30 members of the Diet, it has yet to be\nseen whether she can be persuasive or not to get their actual support. The\nsecond is a bit more simple: cost. Would the LDP be willing to cover the costs\nnecessary to put an uncertain candidate versus a sure-win, even with the\nsupport? The current evidence leans towards a definitive \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There can,\nhowever, always be surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s\nLeft?<\/strong>\n\nSo, now that we have the\npeople covered, what of the issues? What\u2019s going to be up to debate or\notherwise unattended once it all \u201cgoes down\u201d? Currently, there a few issues\nthat the Diet has under deliberation that are going to face either a certain\npromulgation or certain defeat. \n\n\n\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Japanese government can, at times, be quite the fickle mistress. Constant sways in factional leadership provide an already never-ending entertainment value to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, while the national-level debates and arguments provide enough food for thought for the nation. Just this week, however, we\u2019ve seen a proclivity of action unlike much of what we\u2019ve experienced this year. Due to the excruciatingly \u2018juicy\u2019 nature of these happenings, we\u2019ve authored this post to help outsiders and insiders alike catch up and get familiar with the most recent conflicts, issues, and legislation. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\n