Saturday, August 29, 2009

CHANGE IN JAPAN

As voters take to the polls this Sunday for Japan’s general election, many foresee significant change occurring in a country that has seen very little in half a century. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in control almost continuously since 1955 and voters are looking for a change as concerns about the economy swell.

Last month, Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso called for general elections to be held on August 30th amid pressure from his own Liberal Democratic Party to step down. Just one day earlier, the LDP lost the majority to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the Tokyo assembly; its fifth consecutive loss in a local election. In the lower house, the DPJ currently holds 112 of the 480 seats, but polls suggest that the DPJ may control as many as 300 after the election.

Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the DPJ and likely Japan’s next prime minister, could take relations with the U.S. in a very different direction than his predecessor. Mr. Hatoyama recently wrote in a Japanese magazine, "The era of U.S.-led globalism is coming to an end and we are moving away from a unipolar world toward an era of multipolarity.” The DPJ has already vowed to stop refueling U.S. military ships in the Indian Ocean and may question the future of the unpopular U.S. military bases in Japan. Since domestic issues have been at the forefront of the DPJ’s campaign many believe they lack real foreign policy experience. While it is hard to decipher what Japan’s new foreign policy direction will be, the U.S. should be concerned that their sphere of influence has shrunk and China’s may grow.

2 comments:

  1. Obama, the empty suit, and his administration will foster no love in Japan nor will their policies toward Asia win them any friends elsewhere in that hemisphere.

    Then again, I don't think the czars care. The ObamaNation is all about control of the body politic here at home.

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  2. I agree fully the U.S. is headed towards a government run nation and in the end anarchy is all that will be left. God Help us if we as Americans dont stand up and get them out of our pockets and out of our private lives.

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