For years, the LDP repeatedly denied the existence of the Secret Pact between the U.S. and Japan. On 1 December 2009, a former senior diplomat, Yoshino Bunroku, admitted for the first time in court that Tokyo and Washington had a secret accord on the cost burden relating to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa (former Liuqiu [...]

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Hatoyama Yukio repeatedly tied to balance his campaign financial books. It has been revealed that more than 100 million Japanese yen was falsely declared out of revenues from selling tickets for fundraising parties between 2004 and 2008. At least 300 million yen was falsely declared in Hatoyama’s financial statements. Finally, 29 November 2009, the Japanese [...]

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For years, the United States government asks its allies — Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and Norway – to support the development of new radar-evading F-35 fighter jet. By now, Japan has also expressed interest in buying the F-35 fighter jet. The single-engine F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is [...]

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The United States, European countries, and South Korea have already reached open skies agreements, promoting liberalization of their respective civil aviation markets for a while. In the middle of December, Japan finally agreed to liberalize air traffic with the US under open skies accord (Nippon News Network). Japan has one of the worst airports in [...]

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It is unusual for the Prime Minister of Japan to leave a guest of state during their visit.  However, when the US President Barack Obama delayed his visit Japan for 24 hours due to domestic affairs, this is exactly what happened. The Japanese prime minister left for the APEC meeting in Singapore. Since WWII, it [...]

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In 1886, when the Meiji government took back the power from Tokugawa Shogun, the Japanese bureaucrats began to control Japanese politics. On 14 September 2009, the administrative vice minister regular conference hold the last meeting. This symbolized to end the 123-year-old practice by the Japanese bureaucrats. This regular meeting by top bureaucrats at each ministry [...]

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In 1990, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mahamad, proposed an East Asian Economic Caucus, but the idea was dismissed by the United States. In 1997 when the Asian financial crisis hit, Japanese Finance Minister, Miyazawa Kiichi, pushed to create an Asian Monetary Fund, which was quashed by the United States again. In October 2009, [...]

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Jack Gallagher wrote an article in the Japan Times(Ishihara’s Bid for Legacy Was Olympian Waste of Taxpayer Money) on 11 October 2009. His analysis explored how the naïve Japanese politicians like the Governor of Tokyo, who has wasted more than 15 billion (Japanese yen) tax payer’s money, has tried to make his own legacy without [...]

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On 10 October 2009, Turkey and Armenia normalized relations and sought reconciliation after nearly a century of bitterness over their bloody history. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton worked so hard behind the scene for this day.  Both Turkey and Armenia have been in dispute since the World War I massacres of Armenians under [...]

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Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Pacific Forum CSIS, wrote an article in the Japan Times regarding Japan politics after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won the parliamentary election. “The real obstacles to improved Japan-China relations defy any change in government and many require changes not in Tokyo, but in China. The issues include [...]

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Hugh Cortazzi, a former ambassador to Japan (1980-1984), published his article (“Shifting Balances of Power”) in the Japan Times (11 September 2009).  “The new Japanese government will be able to enhance Japan’s world interests only by ensuring that Japan is represented effectively abroad. This requires the appointment of ambassadors willing and able to join in [...]

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Before he took the office, Japanese Prime Minister, Hatoyama Yukio, made a proposal to Asian countries- to form an “East Asian Community.” This was not a new idea.  The Japanese leaders had the same idea a long time ago, probably during the Meiji Restoration. During WWII, the Japanese imperial army executed the idea by launching [...]

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When former Koizumi Junichiro shouted during the 2005 lower house election, “I will destroy LDP if it does not change.” On 30 August 2009, the Japanese voters finally got rid of the lame-duck head of the LDP, Aso Taro, who has been viewed by many as the most arrogant, idiotic, and rich-boy prime minister in [...]

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Ichiro Fujisaki, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., offered a direct apology to a group of the Second World War veterans taken prisoner by Japanese imperial army in the Philippines. “We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people (Japan Times).” A meeting of the American Defenders of [...]

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On 18 June 2009, the United States Senate (111th Congress 1st Session) passed a resolution which formally made an apology to African-Americans for racial segregation. “Apology for the enslavement and segregation of African-Americans- The congress – acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws; apologizes to African-Americans on behalf [...]

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On 25 May 2009, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test since October 2006. About one hour before North Korea regime tested the bomb, the government informed the White House, and so did China. However, North Korea has never cared about Japan at all. The government of Japan should consider “Why?”

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It was a sad day for the South Korean people when former President Roh Moo Hyun committed suicide on 23 May 2009. One of many reasons for Roh’s suicide was that he felt strong responsibility towards the Korean citizens as prosecutors began to make the bribery case. Well, it is time for the Chinese to [...]

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Many people know Dr. Sun Yat-sen had three wives: Lu Muzhen, Soong Ching-ling, and Chen Cuifen. However, recently the Japanese media reported that the daughter of fourth wife of Sun is alive. In 1898, Sun met Ootsuki Kaoru in Yokohama, and Sun made his proposal to her in 1901 when Sun was 36 years old, [...]

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On 26 May 2009, the Chairman of Kuomingtang (KMT) Wu Poh-hsiung met with General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao in Beijing. During the talks between leaders of the two parties, Hu Jintao made a stunning proposal suggesting that the “end hostility and [that two sides] reach [a] peace agreement,” noting that the [...]

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According to the Japanese media, the Chinese government sentenced Yu Jiafu, a former reporter of Xinhua News Agency, to 18 years in prison recently. The 62-years-old reporter has admitted that he gave the top-secret information regarding the Chinese foreign policy of North Korea to foreign diplomats including Miyamoto Yuji, the Japanese Ambassador to China in [...]

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The 60-year-old Human Right Commission was replaced by the UN Human Rights Council on 15 March 2006. This year is election year for the members of the UN Human Rights Council (2009-2012): 5 seats from African States, 5 seats from Asian States, 2 seats from Eastern European States, 3 seats from Latin American & Caribbean [...]

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On the surface, Japan is the second economic superpower after the US, but poverty is a major problem which is threatening the basic social welfare in reality. Every three years, the Japanese government conducts a research of poverty levels. According to the Labor and Welfare Ministry 2007 report that the Gini coefficient, a measure of [...]

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Since the end of WWII, it is the first time former POWs have stepped onto Japanese soil to seek apology from the Japanese prime minister Aso Taro, whose family made POWs serve as slaves in Fukuoka Prefecture. Australian Joseph Coombs, British James McAnulty, the son of late POW, and Patrick McAnulty, arrived in Tokyo on [...]

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The British citizen James McAnulty is seeking an apology from Aso Taro because his father spent long hours at Aso’s family’s Fukuoka Prefecture mine while a former POW. “He (my father) said there was a lack of food and the sleeping quarters were terrible, but sleep was welcome because it was like he was forgetting [...]

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Prime Minister Aso Taro made another interesting question on 22 May 2009. “It cannot be true that the number of new influenza infections in China is so low… (Japan Times 4 June 2009).” Because China has 1.3 billion people, about 10 times larger than Japan’s, China should have more people infections. However, Aso forgot the [...]

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According to the Nikkei Shimbun 112 LDP Lower House members, or 37.8 percent of the chamber, have direct blood kin in politics. In Aso’s current Cabinet, 11 out 17 ministers belong to political family dynasties (Japan Times). Since the 1990s, 9 out 11 prime ministers (Miyazawa Kiichi, Hosokawa Morihiro, Hata Tsutomu, Hashimoto Ryutaro, Obuchi Keizo, [...]

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When both sides of the Taiwan Strait are getting friendlier, one of groups is getting upset — the Japanese right-wing groups. In May 2009, the Japanese envoy (de facto Japanese embassy in Taipei), Saito Masaki gave a speech at a university in Taiwan. In his speech, the Japanese envoy stated that the Taiwan status has [...]

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On 27 April 2009, Nakasone Hirofumi, Foreign Minister of Japan, delivered a speech at a hotel in Tokyo. “China’s strategic direction is unclear and it continues to modernize its nuclear armaments, without cutting down its nuclear weapons. It hasn’t released any information on its capabilities,” stated Nakasone (Japan Times).In his speech, Nakasone also touched on [...]

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Google got into trouble in Japan when Google Earth added historical maps of Japan. Recently, the Justice Ministry in Japan investigated the company because its historical maps revealed “burakumin” location for century ago. The burakumin is a former low-caste community which is one of many taboo issues in Japan. This reflects that Japan is still [...]

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During the Japanese golden week, Aso Taro visited Beijingon the 29th. He met the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao and talked about various issues. However, it seems that a number of isues of Sino-Japanese relations have not reached any resolve. While Aso emphasized the Chinese military expenses, Wen criticized Aso’s donation of [...]

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Everyone is thinking that Japan is democratic society. However, one needs to see it before to believe it. On 20 April 2009, a group of right-wing activists drove a truck with loud speakers past the house of Dewi Sukarno, who was the former first lady of Indonesia, in Shibuya, Japan. “Go home, traitor!!”  It was [...]

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These days, Shii Kazuo, party chief of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), is busy, but he is happy. Shii is one of the happiest people in Japan during this financial chaos. In 1922, the JCP was founded, but it was an illegal organization. In 1945, the JCP was legalized; however, it struggled though polarizing splits [...]

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Japan is only country which experienced nuclear bombs. On 19 April 2009, the right-wing politician Nakagawa Shoichi, famous for his drunken appearance during an interview at the February 13-14 minister level G7 meeting, said, “It is common sense worldwide that in pure military terms, nuclear counters nuclear (Japan Times).” A country does not have to [...]

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Three Australian prisoners of war wanted Aso Taro to apology because Aso Mining Company’s Yoshikuma Coal Mine in Fukuoka forced POW to work as slaves. Later Aso Taro became president of company. According to the Australian (24 April 2009) three POWs: John “Jack” Hall, Joe Coombs, and Arthur Gigger “signed a joint letter to the [...]

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A recent find by the Italian financial police (Guardia Italiana di Finanza) may result in a big jackpot for the Italian government.  Two Japanese nationals (around age 50s), carrying U.S. bonds worth $134.5 billion (including 249 US Treasury bonds worth $500 million each, and ten Kennedy bonds, as well as other US government securities worth [...]

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It is unusually for senior Japanese politicians to criticize high-ranking U.S. officials by name. On 7 April 2009, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General, Hosoda Hiroyuki, criticized former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who was soft in dealing with the North Korea nuclear threat. Hosoda also condemned Christopher Hill, former chief U.S. negotiator for North [...]

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As indicated in his landmark speech in Prague on 4 March 2009, Barack Obama has decided to eliminate nuclear weapons. His speech suggests that the United States will seek U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was signed by Bill Clinton but never passed by the Senate. On the other side of [...]

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended a broad overhaul of military spending slashed on 6 April 2009. These cuts include the ending production of a F22 fighter and a $13 billion-presidential helicopter. At $140 million-apiece, the F22 fighter is a priority for the Japanese purchase lists because F22 fight can evade radar detection and other capabilities [...]

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Despite a number of nations warning North Korea repeatedly for months, Pyongyang launched its rocket claiming that it was a satellite. Japan was outraged and pushed for new sanctions at the U.N. Security Council with new resolution. At the Prague Castle gate, the young president of the United States claimed, “North Korea broke the rules [...]

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On 18 March 2009, the largest naval vessel ever built for Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, a 13,950-ton Hyuga with a 195-meter full-length flight deck, was delivered to the Ministry of Defense in Yokohama. On 11 April 2009, the Hyuga opened to the public at the Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture; more than 10,000 visitors [...]

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Recently, the Chinese government approved two films (Associated Press): “City of Life and Death” which examines the Nanjing massacre through the eyes of a Chinese soldier, and “John Rabe” which is about German businessman, John Rabe, the head of the 7-sq. km. International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone (ICNSZ), who saved about 200,000 Chinese [...]

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The right-wing Prime Minister Aso Taro expressed his hard-line attitude toward the territorial disputes islets (Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands) with China in the East China Sea. In February 2009, Japan dispatched permanent patrol vessels to theses islands waters from the “periodic patrols” to “daily patrols,” according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Japan reacted by placing [...]

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The communiqué on 4 February 2009 by President of France Nicolas Sakozy and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel is extremely interesting news. According to the agreement the Germany military will be stationed in France according to the BBC News. This is the first time since WWII when the Nazi army invaded France. Can anyone image [...]

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People are remembering some classic gaffes by former President George W. Bush. Prime Minister Aso Taro is Japan’s “George W. Bush.” He has failed during speeches to correctly pronounce certain words, many of them commonly used in daily Japanese. For instance, Aso Taro mispronounced the word “mizou”  (unprecedented)  as “mizo-yu,” a non-word, and read the word [...]

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After Barack Obama became the 44th President on 20 January 2009, the bandits in Japan and China have different analyses of Obama’s inaugural address. As everyone knows, Obama’s speech does not contain a famous phrase like John F. Kennedy’s inaugural statement “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do [...]

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These days, Tamogami Toshio is busy appearing on TV shows, publishing books, and holding sponsored lectures. Tamogami also had an interview with the Japan Times. Since he was fired on 31 October 2008, Tamogami appears to view his mission to convince people that his theory of WWII is right. “I remember once when an SDF serviceman [...]

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Today, it will be difficulty for anyone to find a number of young Chinese reading a proletarian novel in street of Beijing. Even within communist system, communist philosophy is not popular at all. However, it is totally different in Japan. Since 2008, a great phenomenon occurred among youth Japanese. The proletarian novel, Kani Kosen[The Crab [...]

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Two interesting articles appeared in the newspaper regarding Obama’s foreign policy when Barack Obama was taking the oath in front of millions people on January 20, 2009. One is written by former diplomat Henry Kissinger (Independent 20 January 2009), and the other is written by Japanologists Richard Samuels and James Schoff (International Herald Tribute 22 [...]

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On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President, the first minority ethnic President in more than 230 years of American history. According to Hong Kong media 1.5 billions people watched Obama’s inauguration ceremony. The society of the superpower of the world is beginning to change. Unfortunately, on the other side of the Pacific [...]

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Aso Taro believes that the United States will be required to help Japan under a bilateral security treaty if a foreign country invades the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Aso’s comments were made at a meeting on foreign affairs at the House of Representatives Budget Committee when Maehara Seiji of the Democratic Party [...]

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Nobuo Miyamoto, Chairman of Board Regent of Komazawa University, was fired in December. As one of the oldest universities in Tokyo, Komazawa University suffered a $15.4 billion loss from derivatives trading (i.e., currency swaps) that were manipulated by three financial institutions. Recently, both Nanzan University and Aichi University reported losses of 3.4 billion and 2.8 [...]

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When Washington decided to remove North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism on October 11, 2008, some politicians in Tokyo were not happy including right-wing Nakagawa Shoichi, who was attending the G7 meeting in the USA. For years, Japanese right-wing groups including some politicians and abductees’ families, hijacked the Japanese foreign policy [...]

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The mainland’s largest offshore explorer, CNOOC, signed with Taiwan’s oil company, CPC, for the cooperation agreements. According to Xinhua News this agreement includes to joint exploration of the Chaozhou Shantou Basin off mainland’s Guangdong coast and joint study on the Wuqiuyu Basin off Fujian coast. Furthermore, CNOOC is ready to transfer of a 30 percent [...]

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The Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates was well-known in the US Navy, named after American hero Oliver Hazard Perry, the older brother of Matthew Calbraith Perry, who is famous in Japanese history. On December 2, 2008, the American Navy named new naval ship as Matthew Calbraith Perry, who opened new era for Japan during 1852-1854. [...]

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Before the G20 Washington meeting held on November 15, 2008, Aso Taro made a proposal to deal with the financial crisis. Under this proposal, Japan would provide up to $100 billion to the IMF to strengthen the looming financial crisis. Unfortunately, the global financial markets responded to the proposal for only about 2 minutes before [...]

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Besides New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Japan became the latest member to join the 2008 Recession Club. On November 17, 2008, Japan posted its second consecutive quarter of negative economic growth, indicating a recession for the first time since 2001. Less than two months after taking office, Aso Taro faces tough decisions regarding revitalizing [...]

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Recently, the Japanese government released some documents regarding Prime Minister Sato Eisaku administration. In one account, Sato, who is uncle of former prime minister Abe Shinzo (9 months in office), wanted the United States to use its nuclear weapons against China in retaliation if Japan became engaged in a was with China. These discussions took [...]

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Under prodding pressure from Democratic Party, the ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare released documents in December 2008 showing that 300 Australian, British, and Dutch prisoners of war worked at a mine owned by Aso Mining during the last four months of the Second World War. Prime Minister Aso Taro claimed that he was only [...]

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During the Second World War, one of greatest Japanologists, Ruth Benedict, wrote one of best books on Japan, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. She analyzed Japanese society’s strong sham culture, which reflected traditional society of Japan. Since then, many scholars have imagined Japan as the sham society based upon Benedict’s book. In the 21st century, [...]

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Since the 1990s, Japanese right-wing radicals have created what is often referred to as an iron triangle: politicians-media-scholars, to poison the views of Japanese youth who were born after WWII. One way the Japanese right-wing politicians push their political policies and agenda is through the public education system which often uses right-winged broadcasts and propaganda [...]

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The paramount Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping went Tokyo and signed the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty with the Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Takeo in October 23, 1978. The year 2008 is the 30th anniversary of the peace treaty. Unfortunately, there is no cause for celebration regarding Sino-Japanese relations. A few reasons can be summarized. There [...]

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In September, the former Prime Minister, Koizumi Junichiro, announced that he would not run in the next lower house election. But, Koizumi recommended his 27-year-old son to take his seat to run the next election simply because Koizumi inherited this political seat from his family at age 27. Nearly, one-third of the members of the [...]

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On the 25th of September, the 97,000-ton USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered carrier of the U.S. Navy, arrived at its new home port, Yokusuka Japan. Since 1973, this is the fourth U.S. carrier stationed in Japan after the Midway, the Independence, and the Kitty Hawk. All carriers are oil-powered. Of the U.S. Navy’s 10 nuclear-powered carriers, the [...]

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Will the $700 billion bailout save the U.S. economy? The answer is “NO!” In 1990s, the Japanese property bubble burst cost taxpayers about $3 trillion (with Japan’s GDP about $4 trillion) and took more than 15 years to clean up the mess in the Japanese economy. Today, the subprime loan crisis could potentially cost the [...]

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On October 31, 2008, General Tamogami Toshio, Chief of Staff of Japan’s Air Force, was fired because of his essay, “Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?,” which expressed an odd view of  world history much different from the majority of global audience. Tamogami, was praised by the right-wing former Defense Minister, Koike Yuriko, according to BBC [...]

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On September 22, former President Lee Teng-hui visited Okinawa, Japan for the first time. He was treated with VIP status with more than 400 police protecting him. When Lee met the Governor of Okinawa, Nakaima Hirokazu, for lunch on 24th, Lee Teng-hui remarked “The Tiaoyutai (Diaoyu/Senkaku) Islands have belonged to Japan since long ago,” which [...]

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On February 20, 1943, the Japanese imperial navy landed in Guangzhou city. More than 60 years later, on June 24, 2008, the Sazanami, the Japanese naval destroyer, docked in Zhanjiang, a port city in southern Guangdong Province. This time, the Japanese navy received a 21-gun salute from the Chinese navy, and only Japanese and Chinese [...]

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Wang Yi, China’s ambassador to Japan during 2004-2007, became director of Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council on June 3, 2008. Geopolitically, Chinese President Hu Jintao appears to have cut off relationships between the Japanese right-wing and Taiwan’s “independent” right-wing movement. These changes signal that Sino-Japanese relations are back on track and may eventual [...]

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