Category: Democratic Party of Japan
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Japan Update: Repeta on Osaka Mayor Hashimoto
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has been in office a few short months, but has become a media sensation in Japan for various audacious statements, including criticism of Article 9 of the Constitution. Last month he issued an order that all Osaka City employees participate in a mandatory survey that includes disclosure of political and union…
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Japan’s Prosecutors Score a Big Win
UN human rights committees and other international observers have called for major changes to Japan’s interrogation procedures for more than a decade, claiming that extended interrogations without the presence of counsel deny fundamental rights. The most commonly proposed remedy is complete recording of interrogations.
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Guest Post: Matsudaira on Japan Election
The Democratic Party (DPJ) of Japan, Japan’s new ruling party, has decided to abolish its policy department. In a notice given to its Diet members by Ichiro Ozawa, the party’s director general, the DPJ has prohibited its Diet members from directly proposing bills, within the exception of lawmaking regarding highly political issues, such as electoral…
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The Japanese Election: Much Ado About Very Little?
It’s rare for Japanese politics to get a lot of attention in the Western media, but this was admittedly no ordinary election. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s trouncing of the Liberal Democratic Party on August 30 made the front page of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and so forth.