| Sep 02 | Japan, Caribbean nations agree to cooperate on climate, Haiti (AP) |
| Japan and 13 Caribbean nations agreed in Tokyo on Thursday to cooperate with each other in curbing global warming and offering support to quake-hit Haiti among other issues at their first meeting in a decade, a Japanese official said. The ministerial meeting of Japan and member countries of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, also underlined Tokyo's renewed pledge to help those nations recover from the global economic crisis and deepen cooperation on global issues such as nuclear disarmament and the reform of the United Nations Security Council. |
| Sep 02 | Japan set to toughen sanctions on Iran (Reuters) |
| Japan is set to toughen sanctions against Iran as early as this week over its disputed nuclear programme, the Nikkei business daily said, following the United States and European Union's leads in pressuring Tehran. The unilateral measures, which go beyond sanctions imposed by the United Nations, include banning new investments in energy-related industries and imposing a limit on trade insurance, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday. Japan's additional sanctions are as tough as the European Union's sanctions against Iran that were announced in July and are likely to hit Japanese firms that have transactions with Iran, the Nikkei reported. |
| Sep 01 | Ozawa says new plan needed to resolve Futenma relocation issue (AP) |
| Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa said Wednesday that a new plan is required to address the issue of relocating a U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture. Ozawa told reporters it is impossible for Japan and the United States to go ahead with their current plan, agreed on in May, given strong opposition from people in Okinawa, who are calling for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to be moved outside the southwestern Japanese prefecture. |
| Sep 01 | Japan leadership battle kicks off (AFP) |
 Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his rival, powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, kicked off a leadership battle Wednesday that threatens to divide the ruling party only a year after it took power.
Their contest to run the governing centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) comes as its economic recovery is slowing, Japan's debt mountain is growing and exports are threatened by the yen trading near a 15-year high.
The rivals, who both formally declared their candidacy for the September 14 party election, represent the two different wings of the party which a year ago ousted the conservatives after more than half as century in power.
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| Sep 01 | Futenma report presents 2 runway options (Yomiuri) |
| The government on Tuesday released the report of a Japan-U.S. expert panel on a planned alternative facility for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture. The report features two conflicting plans for runway layouts. One layout option is a plan agreed upon between Japan and the United States in 2006 to build two runways in a V-shaped formation, a plan that Washington still favors. The other option is a plan more recently advanced by Japan to build a single I-shaped runway. |
| Aug 31 | Ozawa reaffirms DPJ leadership candidacy after talks with PM Kan collapse (Mainichi) |
 Ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa said he made a final decision on Aug. 31 to run in the Sept. 14 party presidential election after talks with Prime Minister Naoto Kan collapsed.
During a meeting with his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama on Aug. 30, Kan agreed to abandon his campaign to eliminate former DPJ Secretary-General Ozawa's influence from the party and establish a troika leadership of Hatoyama, Ozawa and himself in order to maintain party unity.
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| Aug 31 | 67% of voters prefer Kan over Ozawa for DPJ president (Yomiuri) |
| Sixty-seven percent of voters feel Prime Minister Naoto Kan is best suited to be president of the Democratic Party of Japan, far more than the 14 percent who support former party Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found. Ozawa and Kan are expected to run a two-man race in the presidential election to be announced Wednesday and held Sept. 14. Among supporters of Kan, 65 percent said they back him because it is not desirable to frequently change prime ministers. Twenty-seven percent said Kan was right to have distanced himself from Ozawa. |
| Aug 29 | Beijing's plan for early North nuke talks rebuffed by Tokyo (Japan Times) |
| Japan and China were at odds Saturday over how to restart the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs, with Beijing seeking an early resumption but Tokyo taking a cautious stance. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, did not confirm North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's reported visit to China since Thursday and his rumored talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Changchun, Jilin Province, on Friday. |
| Aug 28 | Japan panel urges defense changes, wary of China (Asahi) |
| Japan should revise the exclusively defensive policy adopted after its defeat in World War Two, relax an arms export ban and consider lifting a prohibition on aiding allies under attack, a government advisory panel said on Friday. It voiced concern about China's military buildup and urged improvement of Japan's ability cope with multiple threats. "China has already become a major country that affects the global economy and has played a certain role in the international community," the experts said in their recommendations for Japan's first major review of defense policies in half a decade. |
| Aug 28 | Battle heats up between rival Kan, Ozawa camps (Japan Times) |
| Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers intensified efforts Friday to whip up support for the two contenders in the ruling party's presidential election, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and longtime kingpin Ichiro Ozawa. The battle between the two camps escalated a day after Ozawa's announcement that he would run in the Sept. 14 poll, which will determine whether Kan can continue to serve as prime minister after only three months in office. Kan shrugged off widespread concerns the party could be split by Ozawa's challenge. "I'm sure that all party members will be able to work together after the election," he said. |
| Aug 27 | Ozawa's decision to run could blur essential issues for Japan (AP) |
| The decision by Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa on Thursday to run in the ruling party's leadership race could lead to further procrastination over what Japan should be doing to address a welter of domestic and international problems, some analysts have warned. With Prime Minister Naoto Kan expected to be the only other runner in the Sept. 14 presidential election, the decision could make internecine strife between pro-Ozawa and anti-Ozawa forces the main focal point at a time when Japan ought to be dealing with global economic issues, fiscal strains, social security and many other domestic problems, said Yasunori Sone, graduate school professor in politics at Keio University. |
| Aug 27 | Is Ozawa fired up by Kan's cold shoulder? (Yomiuri) |
| Prime Minister Naoto Kan's reluctance to appoint Ichiro Ozawa, a heavyweight in the Democratic Party of Japan, to a key party post appears to have lit a fire under the powerful politician. A former DPJ secretary general, Ozawa announced Thursday he would run against Kan in next month's party leadership contest. One lawmaker close to Ozawa expressed confidence, saying, "Our group can now unite and fight," referring to a group of junior and younger DPJ Diet members who have urged Ozawa to run for the party's top spot. These lawmakers are part of a group of about 150 Diet members that supports Ozawa, more than one-third of the party's lawmakers. |
| Aug 27 | LDP's Noda, 49, pregnant via fertility treatment (Japan Times) |
 Seiko Noda, a Liberal Democratic Party member of the Lower House, has become pregnant through artificial insemination using an egg from someone in the United States after years of fertility treatment, sources said Wednesday. The former minister in charge of posts and telecommunications, as well as consumers affairs, is currently 15 weeks pregnant and is scheduled to give birth around February, by which time she will be 50. Noda is not married but has a de facto marital relationship with her partner, they said.
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| Aug 26 | Ozawa to run against Kan in DPJ leadership race (AP) |
 Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa said Thursday he will run against Prime Minister Naoto Kan next month in the ruling party's leadership election, a move that could fuel tension within the party and see Japan led by its third prime minister in a year.
"As I heard former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama say he will give me thorough support if I run in the election, I decided to do so today in front of Mr. Hatoyama," Ozawa told reporters after meeting with Hatoyama.
Hatoyama, who until Tuesday had publicly supported Kan's reelection, told reporters separately that he will now back Ozawa in the race.
Hatoyama held talks over the Sept. 14 election with Ozawa, a former secretary general of the party who has been critical of the way Kan has been running the government since he took office nearly three months ago.
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| Aug 26 | Japan DPJ powerbroker to bid for PM in party vote (Reuters) |
| Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa said on Thursday he would challenge Prime Minister Naoto Kan for the leadership next month, a battle analysts say could create a policy vacuum and push a surging yen higher. Kan, who took over in June as Japan's fifth prime minister in three years, is fighting for his job after an election loss last month deprived the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) of a majority in the upper house. The DPJ-led government, which took power for the first time a year ago, is struggling to put a cap on the surging yen JPY=, which hit a 15-year high against the dollar this week and threatens to derail an export-led recovery. |
| Aug 26 | Japanese relief equipment arrives in Pakistan (AP) |
| A Japanese Air Self-Defense transport plane arrived in the central Pakistani city of Multan on Wednesday with equipment to help a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force relief mission set up flood-relief operations. Japan is airlifting six helicopters to Pakistan to help airlift relief supplies from Multan to flood victims in Punjab Province. The ASDF cargo plane carried power generating equipment and other supplies for the helicopter fleet. The first two Japanese choppers are due arrive in Multan on Thursday. |
| Aug 26 | Rival's gaffe could save Japanese PM (The Australian) |
| Ichiro Ozawa suffered a setback yesterday when made a series of gaffes describing Americans as "monocellular" or simple-minded. Mr Ozawa -- the political veteran seen as a challenger to Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan -- has consistently refused to rule out challenging Mr Kan in next month's Democratic Party of Japan leadership ballot, effectively destabilising the Prime Minister, who is trying to rebuild his stocks amid a glut of dismal economic news. |
| Aug 24 | U.S. presses Japan to boost sanctions against Iran (Yomiuri) |
| The U.S. government has urged Japan to implement additional sanctions on Iran, bringing them in line with European Union sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program, U.S. government sources said. The additional sanctions would include a ban on new investment in Iran's energy-related industries. However, Washington did not make a strong demand that Japan restrict imports of crude oil from Iran, the sources said Sunday. Earlier this month, the U.S. dispatched Robert Einhorn, its coordinator of sanctions on Iran and North Korea, to Japan to discuss sanctions on Iran with Japanese officials. |
| Aug 24 | First GSDF unit arrives to aid Pakistan flood effort (Japan Times) |
 The first group of 50 Ground Self-Defense Force members arrived Sunday in Multan, Pakistan, to help people devastated by the recent major flooding.
The first team, primarily from the 4th Division of the Western Army based in Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, will prepare for the arrival of a helicopter unit later this week.
Punjab, where Multan is located, is in central Pakistan and is the most populous province. Around 8.2 million people there have been affected and around 500,000 homes damaged.
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| Aug 23 | Some 1,500 gov't-linked posts successively held by ex-bureaucrats (AP) |
| Some 1,528 senior positions at government-linked organizations are being occupied by a former government official for at least the third successive time from the same ministry or agency, according to a survey as of April 1 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications obtained by Kyodo News on Sunday. Of the officials working at such government-affiliated organizations or other entities, whose work is subsidized by or carried out on behalf of the government, 4,916 were former government officials aged 65 or older. |
| Aug 23 | Summertime getaway a mere disguise to push for Ozawa to become PM (Mainichi) |
| The reason the get-together between former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa in Karuizawa -- a summertime resort located a couple of hours from Tokyo -- seemed odd is because it was a performance that was put on with the objective of ousting Prime Minister Naoto Kan. It was a political spectacle masquerading as a summertime vacation, choreographed immaturely, complete with an exchange of hollow words. What in the world are these people doing? They are feeling out the idea of Ozawa running in the Sept. 14 DPJ presidential election. |
| Aug 23 | Kan to stay mum on takeover pact (Japan Times) |
 The administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has decided to refrain from referring to the government's view that the 1910 pact authorizing the annexation of the Korean Peninsula was concluded in a valid manner in accordance with international law in those days, government sources said Saturday. The two nations signed the treaty exactly 100 years ago on Sunday. It took effect a week later.
Kan's team decided to go with a nonreference policy in light of South Korea's position that the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty was voided because it was concluded by force.
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| Aug 22 | Uneasy neighbors across the sea (Japan Times) |
 August 22 is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Annexation between Japan and Korea that came into effect on Aug. 29, 1910 - commemorated now in North and South Korea as a day of shame. It is 65 years since colonial rule ended, but the scars of the past have not healed and bilateral relations remain vexed by history. Numerous aologies by Japanese politicians, and one by Emperor Akihito in 1990, have been undone by discordant voices of denial and unrepentant justification. These mixed messages reflect a lack of consensus in Japan about its colonial era.
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| Aug 22 | Private use of SDF aircraft touted (Japan Times) |
| The Defense Ministry will promote the private use of aircraft developed for the Self-Defense Forces while adhering to a de facto ban on arms exports, officials said Friday. The private use of such aircraft will enable developers to reduce their reliance on the ministry and tap into commercial markets, according to a report adopted by a study panel under the ministry the same day. |
| Aug 21 | Japan official positive about obtaining ability to hit enemy bases (AP) |
| Japan should acquire the capacity to strike an enemy's missile launch sites in light of threats from North Korea's long-range ballistic missiles, Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima said Friday. "It is natural that questions arise over whether Japan can sufficiently defend itself without such a capacity," Nagashima told a symposium in Tokyo. Last June, defense policy-making panels of the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed that Japan acquire the capacity to strike an enemy's missile launch sites following North Korea's rocket launch, which Tokyo saw as a cover to test its ballistic missile technology, and its nuclear test. |
| Aug 20 | SDF exercises to 'recapture' Nansei island / Simulation aims to send China signal (Japan Times) |
| The Self-Defense Forces will conduct exercises simulating the recapture of an isolated island from enemy forces in December, Defense Ministry sources said, the first such drills by the SDF and seen as a response to China's recent naval expansion. The exercises will be based on the newly compiled defense program for the Nansei Islands, which includes the Okinawa Islands. The primary location will be the Ground Self-Defense Force's 4,900-hectare Hijudai maneuver site in Oita Prefecture, according to the sources. |
| Aug 19 | Ozawa may challenge Kan (Straits Times) |
 RULING Democratic Party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, a critic of proposals to raise the sales tax to rein in Japan's huge public debt, is considering running against Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a party leadership election next month, media said on Thursday.
Mr Ozawa, who quit last year as party leader after a funding scandal, was a critic of Mr Kan's decision to float a possible doubling of the 5 per cent sales tax ahead of a July upper house election that deprived the ruling bloc of a majority in the chamber, forcing them to seek opposition support to enact bills.
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| Aug 18 | Japan watching China's military closely (Brisbane Times) |
| Japan said on Tuesday it would keep a close eye on Beijing's military build-up, following a US government report warning that China's rising defence power is changing East Asia's military balance. The comment by Japan's defence ministry came after two incidents on the high seas in recent months in which Chinese naval helicopters buzzed Japanese destroyers watching their naval flotillas near Japanese islands. |
| Aug 18 | Politicians to return ¥48 million (Japan Times) |
| All 59 newly elected members of the Upper House have offered to give back part of their salaries for the month of July covering the days before they began working as lawmakers, the chamber's secretariat said. The total to be returned amounts to about ¥48 million, it said. The move follows the enactment earlier this month of a change that makes it possible for Diet members to voluntarily return part of their pay. |
| Aug 16 | Prosecutors to question Ozawa for 4th time after DPJ leadership race (AP) |
| Prosecutors are arranging to question former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa on a voluntary basis for the fourth time over misreported funds after the ruling party's leadership race on Sept. 14, sources close to the matter said Monday. The sources said Ozawa cannot take time out as he is busy preparing for the DPJ presidential election and hoped for the questioning to be held after the event. Late last month, Ozawa notified prosecutors through his lawyer that he will submit to their questioning. |
| Aug 16 | S.Korean Christians demand Japan's action (AFP) |
 Tens of thousands of South Korean Christians demanded on Sunday that Japan officially nullify a 1910 accord to annex the Korean peninsula.
The demand came at a rally in central Seoul to mark the anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule.
Police said the gathering drew about 150,000 people while organisers claimed one million Christians took part in rallies and prayer services nationwide.
Historians say a pro-Japanese government in Seoul was forced to sign the accord to help Japan annex the peninsula in 1910 until its World War II defeat in 1945.
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| Aug 16 | Shrine decision draws both praise and protest (Japan Times) |
 Peace activists rejoiced Sunday over the fact that Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet didn't visit Yasukuni Shrine this year, while conservatives slammed the decision. At the Japan Education Center in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, around 190 people welcomed Kan's decision to stay away. The group included citizens who lost relatives in World War II and who generally object to politicians visiting Yasukuni Shrine. The day marked the 65th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II and the first since the Democratic Party of Japan took power last year. It is also the first time in nearly 30 years the entire Cabinet has refrained from visiting the contentious shrine.
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| Aug 16 | Gulf seen between Japan, S. Korea over 'transfer' of cultural artifacts (AP) |
| Despite Prime Minister Naoto Kan's promise last week to "transfer" to South Korea artifacts originating from Korea, there are big differences in opinion over the matter between the two countries which could become a new diplomatic flashpoint, according to experts. Kan issued a statement last Tuesday, in which he apologized for Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and promised to transfer archives originating from the peninsula "that were brought to Japan during the period of Japan's rule through the Japanese colonial government of Korea" and are still kept by the government. |
| Aug 16 | Japan to train Afghan police in Turkey (Yomiuri) |
| The government will dispatch police personnel to Turkey to train Afghan police officers, it has been learned. The project will be carried out in cooperation with the Turkish government, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and others, using police training facilities in Turkey. It is aimed at both improving security in Afghanistan and indirectly supporting the U.S. government, which is bearing a huge financial burden from its operations in Afghanistan. |
| Aug 15 | Japan to sign treaty on parental rights (Perth Now) |
| Japan has bowed to global pressure to end the parental abductions of children from broken international marriages. Japan is the only major industrial nation that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention that requires the return of wrongfully kept children to their country of habitual residence. Tokyo has decided to ratify the treaty, the Kyodo news agency said, but will not sign up immediately as it needs time to bring its domestic laws in line with those of other signatory nations. Courts in Japan routinely award custody to only one parent, usually the mother, and almost never to foreign parents. |
| Aug 14 | North Korea wants Japan to apologise (todayonline.com) |
| North Korea called on Japan to offer an apology and compensation for its harsh colonial rule, days after Tokyo apologised to South Korea for its annexation of the peninsula, without mentioning the North. North Koreans harbour deep resentment against Japan for mobilising Koreans for forced labour and as sex slaves during the occupation from 1910 to 1945. On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologised for the "enormous damage and suffering" caused by his country and expressed "deep remorse". |
| Aug 12 | Govt considering dispatching SDF copters to Pakistan (Yomiuri) |
| The government is considering sending Self-Defense Forces helicopter units on an emergency relief mission to northwestern Pakistan, which has been ravaged by deadly floods. A government official Wednesday said the government is weighing a request received from the Pakistani government Tuesday to dispatch SDF helicopter corps to transport relief goods to flooded areas in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province. The province borders Afghanistan, and the area around it is a key battlefield in the United States' war against insurgent forces, presenting some security concerns. |
| Aug 12 | DPJ holiday overhaul would derail 'Happy Mondays' (Japan Times) |
| A proposal by the Democratic Party of Japan to stagger national holidays by region, the second overhaul of the vacation schedule in a decade, would mean fewer long weekends and could create accounting headaches for business owners. The plan, aimed at boosting tourism and unclogging transport systems at peak times, would scrap four long weekends created under the previous government's "Happy Monday" policy. The administration wants to divide Japan into five regions, each observing five-day breaks in spring and fall during different weeks. |
| Aug 12 | Tanigaki to visit Yasukuni (Japan Times) |
| Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Wednesday he will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday, the anniversary of the end of World War II. "I won the (LDP) presidential election saying that I will visit (Yasukuni) on the anniversary of the end of the war," Tanigaki told reporters, referring to last September's race for the main opposition party's top post. |
| Aug 11 | Ex-lawmaker Hamada admitted to share sale before arrest (AP) |
| Although he is now refusing to answer questions, former lawmaker Koichi Hamada admitted before his arrest Tuesday on suspicion of breach of trust that he sold the shares he had put up as collateral in a financial deal, investigative sources said Wednesday. Hamada, 81, admitted to police during voluntary questioning that he sold off the shares he put up as collateral to borrow 200 million yen from a company, the sources said. Hamada was a House of Representatives member until 1993 for the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party. |
| Aug 11 | Japan needs to walk its talk about historical remorse (Xinhua) |
| Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday expressed "deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology" for Koreans' suffering under his country's 1910-1945 colonial rule. The remarks, delivered ahead of the Aug. 29 centenary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula, is basically in line with a landmark statement by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995. Fifty years after Japan's surrender and the end of World War Two, Murayama extended his country's first official apology for Japan's aggression toward Asian countries, which has defined the tone of all the succeeding Japanese governments on issues related to that period in history. |
| Aug 11 | Lee urges Japan to follow up on apology (Korea Times) |
| President Lee Myung-bak urged Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to follow up with actions on his apology over Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the presidential office said Tuesday. "During their 20-minute telephone conversation, Lee and Kan shared common understanding that the two countries should strengthen their cooperation further," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung told reporters. "Lee told the Prime Minister that there should be a proper assessment of the sincerity of Japan's apology, stressing that it was important for Tokyo to follow it up." Kan called Lee after the Japanese government issued the apology. |
| Aug 11 | Can Japan's politics change people's despair to hope? (Japan Times) |
| The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters' distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition lost a majority in the 242-seat chamber by a large margin. The resultant divided Diet situation with the opposition parties in control of the Upper House and the DPJ dominating the House of Representatives will undoubtedly make it more difficult for the Kan administration to make important policy decisions in the months to come. |
| Aug 11 | No Aug. 15 Yasukuni visit by Cabinet (Japan Times) |
| Prime Minister Naoto Kan and all of his ministers have expressed their intention not to visit Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday, the anniversary of the end of World War II, out of consideration for Asian victims of Japanese militarism. Kan announced in June that he wouldn't visit the Shinto shrine honoring Japan's war dead along with war criminals as long as he is in office. Past Yasukuni visits by prime ministers triggered fierce criticism, most notably from China and South Korea. |
| Aug 10 | Japan gov't apologizes for colonial rule of Korea (AP) |
 Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized Tuesday to South Korea for Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the hope of building future-oriented bilateral relations.
In a statement released ahead of the Aug. 29 centenary of Japan's annexation of the peninsula, Kan expressed deep regret over the suffering inflicted during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
The statement, endorsed by his Cabinet members in the morning, was timed to also precede South Korea's celebration of its liberation from colonial rule on Aug. 15.
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| Aug 09 | Japan pledges increased assistance for Central Asia (AP) |
| Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada vowed to continue providing aid in meetings Sunday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev a day after pledging increased assistance for Central Asia to fight terrorism and drugs from neighboring Afghanistan. As part of his resource-oriented diplomacy, Okada also asked the leader of Uzbekistan, the most populous Central Asian nation which is rich in gold, uranium and natural gas, during their meeting in the Uzbek capital to expand bilateral cooperation in the area of resources, Japanese officials said. |
| Aug 09 | Japan can't stay postwar forever (AFP) |
| Revolutions, it is often claimed, do not happen when people are desperate. They occur in times of rising expectations. Perhaps this is why they so often end in disappointment. Expectations, usually set too high to begin with, fail to be met, resulting in anger, disillusion, and often in acts of terrifying violence. Japan's change of government in 2009 - when the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) broke the almost uninterrupted monopoly on power held by the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) since 1955 - was not a revolution. But, rather like the election of the first black president of the United States, it was fizzing with popular expectations, promising a fundamental shift from the past. |
| Aug 09 | Anti-death penalty rally takes justice minister to task (Japan Times) |
| Justice Minister Keiko Chiba was criticized Sunday for authorizing the execution of two death row inmates in July as anti-death penalty activists held a protest rally Sunday in Tokyo. The July 28 hangings of Kazuo Shinozawa, 59, and Hidenori Ogata, 33, were the first under the Democratic Party of Japan-led government launched last September, and Chiba, a former member of a group of parliamentarians opposed to the death penalty, in an unusual move attended the executions, describing it as the "duty of the person who orders it." |
| Aug 08 | F-35 delay prompts temporary fix (Japan Times) |
| The government said Saturday it will update its F-15 fighter fleet or buy more F-2s, given the delay in development of the F-35, which it hopes will be the next mainstay fighter. Either option, however, is expected to pose headaches for defense officials, while the government could face criticism that in the interim the nation is letting its guard down. In 2004, the Cabinet endorsed a five-year defense buildup plan through 2009 that included procurement of seven next-generation fighters to succeed the F-4s that are set to be retired in this decade. |
| Aug 08 | Kan faces Ozawa-linked challenge (Japan Times) |
| Senior Democratic Party of Japan member Banri Kaieda may challenge Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the Sept. 14 DPJ presidential election, DPJ sources said Saturday. Kaieda, 61, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Committee, told a lawmaker close to former DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa at a Tokyo hotel Wednesday that he is willing to run to replace Kan, the sources said. |