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Liberal Japan needs to drown out revisionist voices
Author: Benedikt Buechel, Seoul National University Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return to power in December 2012, Japan’s diplomatic relations with South Korea have continuously worsened. Abe’s...
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Snap election belies Japan’s weak politics
Author: Ben Ascione, ANU The incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seems to be cruising towards a victory in the snap election to be held on 14 December. But beware of interpreting this as a ringing...
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Abe takes his electoral ‘chance’
Author: Peter Drysdale, East Asia Forum As the official election campaign rolled out last week, the media are still trying to get a handle on what the upcoming Japanese election is all about. This is...
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Is it back to the future for Japanese politics?
Author: Gerald L. Curtis, Columbia University Prime Minister Abe’s decision to call a snap election paid off big time for him and for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP and its coalition...
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What now for Abe third time round
Author: Nobumasa Akiyama, Hitotsubashi University Shinzo Abe’s second term as prime minister of Japan, unlike his first, was a modest success through till 2014. But he will have to bring real and...
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What will Abe deliver now?
Author: Peter Drysdale, East Asia Forum After a decisive election victory on 14 December, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would seem to be in an extremely sweet spot to deliver on both his main...
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Scandal threatens Abe and Japan’s political stability
Author: Brad Glosserman, Pacific Forum CSIS The greatest threat to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ambitious agenda is political instability in Tokyo. The spectre of such instability is...
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Japan’s political dynasties fail the porky test
Authors: Yasushi Asako, Waseda University; Takeshi Iida, Doshisha University; Tetsuya Matsubayashi, Osaka University; and Michiko Ueda, Syracuse University Political positions are no longer hereditary...
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Is Japan really tilting to the right?
Author: Stephen Robert Nagy, ICU Japan is coming under increasing scrutiny as the 70th anniversary of World War II approaches and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moves to reform Japan’s defence policy....
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The rise and fall of Japan’s opposition
Author: Kevin Placek, SSRC On 27 August, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto abruptly announced his resignation from the Japan Innovation Party (JIP). Hashimoto, who founded the party, has arguably been the...
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What the Osaka elections mean for national politics in Japan
Author: Purnendra Jain, University of Adelaide The results of the November 2015 ‘double election’ for the Osaka Prefectural governor and Osaka City mayor are in. The regional Osaka Ishin no Kai...
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Weak opposition is a cancer in Japan’s political system
Author: Gerald Curtis, Columbia University For close to 40 years after 1955, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dominated Japan’s competitive party system. Opposition parties were not able to mount a...
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Who wields power in Japan now?
Author: Shuntaro Iizuka, University of Melbourne The recent Tokyo elections saw the historic defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) by the newly established Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First)...
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Domestic dalliances jeopardise Japan’s foreign relations
Author: Kazuhiko Togo, Kyoto Sangyo University Mid-2017 is certainly a time to remember for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. His cabinet approval rating fell drastically from around 60 per cent in March to...
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Abe’s big gamble
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra Although not unanticipated, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s dissolution of Japan’s lower house and call of a general election on 22 October still...
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Press freedom and politics in Japan
Author: Arthur Stockwin, University of Oxford Most international attention on East Asia today is sharply focused on North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments. But this does not mean that we can...
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Abe’s snap election gamble pays off
Author: Kuniaki Nemoto, Musashi University Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to dissolve the lower house on 25 September 2017 and call a snap election came as a surprise. As of July, the...
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Japan’s elusive dream of ‘contestable party politics’
Author: Editorial Board, East Asia Forum Japan went to the polls yesterday for a snap election in the lower house which saw Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) once again cruise...
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Opposition becoming a prop-osition under LDP changes
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra Japan’s lower house election presents an unusually contradictory outcome: a solid performance by a political party led by an unpopular prime minister. It...
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Time-on for Japan’s reform
Author: Editorial Board, East Asia Forum The Japanese economy slumped into a lost decade of growth after the spectacular asset bubble burst in 1991. In the decade that followed, growth was even slower...
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