Japan
Japan’s defence minister strikes an anti-US posture
By John Chan, January 31, 2007
Just weeks after being installed as Japan’s first post-war defence minister, Fumio Kyuma has openly criticised the US over the war in Iraq. The comments are at odds with Japan’s previous w...
Japan establishes first postwar defence ministry
By John Chan, January 19, 2007
In a step towards the revival of Japanese militarism, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government on January 9 set up the country’s first defence ministry since the end of World War II. Japane...
Japan’s “education reform” to indoctrinate nationalism
By Joe Lopez, January 3, 2007
The Japanese government has pushed through controversial changes to the country’s education law, winding back the clock to the state indoctrination that characterised the militarist regimes of t...
Japanese prime minister faces sharp fall in opinion polls
By John Chan, December 13, 2006
After just three months in power, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is confronting a sharp drop in his approval ratings. Questions are already being raised in ruling circles about Abe’s ability...
Japan’s energy diplomacy and Koizumi’s trip to Central Asia
By Joe Lopez, September 28, 2006
In one of his last trips abroad before stepping down as Japan’s prime minister this week, Junichiro Koizumi visited the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan late last month. The ...
Shinzo Abe: Japan’s new prime minister
By John Chan, September 26, 2006
Shinzo Abe is due to be installed today as Japan’s new prime minister, succeeding Junichiro Koizumi, after being elected as the president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) o...
Russian shooting of Japanese fisherman heightens tensions over Kuril islands
By John Chan, August 31, 2006
The killing of a Japanese fisherman on August 16 by a Russian patrol boat in waters near the southern Kuril Islands has highlighted ongoing tensions between the two countries over the disputed territo...
Japan: Koizumi’s provocative visit to the Yasukuni shrine
By John Chan, August 24, 2006
In one of his final acts before leaving office next month, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a sixth visit last week to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine where Japan’s war dead, inc...
Japanese government withdraws its troops from Iraq
By Joe Lopez, July 24, 2006
The arrival of 220 Japanese troops in Kuwait last week marked the complete withdrawal of Japan’s 600-man Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF) from Iraq.
Japan plans aggressive global energy strategy
By John Chan, June 15, 2006
Amid intensifying competition among the major powers for oil and gas, Japan is quietly preparing its own strategy to counter its economic rivals, including the US, and secure access to adequate energy...
Premature applause for Japan’s one quarter of promising economic growth
By John Chan, March 17, 2006
The international financial world was impressed last month when Japan’s economy registered an annualised growth rate of 5.5 percent for the last quarter of 2005.
Bank of Japan policy shift will have global impact
By Nick Beams, March 14, 2006
Last Thursday’s decision by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to end its policy of pumping liquidity into the economy and start returning to a “normal” interest rate regime could see the begin...
