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Japan

The return of 'Mrs Watanabe'
Japan's housewives, pensioners and businessmen are driving increased yen sales as market stability fuels a rising appetite for risk. The Japanese housewife who makes bets on the direction of the yen, "Mrs Watanabe", has returned with a vengeance, and a shrewd new outlook. - Kosuke Takahashi (Jun 26,'09)

A convenient North Korean distraction
The main venue for demonstrating enhanced United States-Japanese cooperation as a viable alternative to Chinese diplomatic suzerainty over North Asia is North Korea. In this process, Dear Leader Kim Jong-il is playing a perfect role by provoking a security crisis the US can exploit to the full. - Peter Lee (Jun 22,'09)

Sayonara LDP, hello DPJ
There are overwhelming signs that Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled for more than half a century, will suffer a calamitous defeat in the next elections. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan has routed the LDP in local elections and its popular support has all but collapsed. Recession-hit Japanese also see the DPJ as the key to an economic revival. - Purnendra Jain (Jun 19,'09)

Doubts over US-China-Japan talks
Plans for a first-ever summit between China, Japan and the United States have raised hopes that the framework could become a pivotal forum for East Asia. However, with South Korea likely to view its exclusion as insulting and threatening, any serious progress on the region's most pressing security issue, North Korea, is unlikely. - Jian Junbo (Jun 15,'09)

Tokyo struggles to get its message right
The twin false alarms Japan experienced before the North Korean missile test in April highlight some unacceptable deficiencies in its early warning systems. Further provocations from Pyongyang will surely confirm that Japan's crisis management system is on the blink. - Peter J Brown (Jun 9,'09)

Pyongyang shakes up pacifist Japan
The Japanese government, prompted by this week's nuclear and missile tests by North Korea, is finalizing plans that would enable the military to carry out pre-emptive strikes as part of a new defense plan to be presented by the end of the year. The era of Japan's strong pacifism, as enshrined in the United Stated-imposed "peace constitution", may be coming to an end. - Kosuke Takahashi (May 29,'09)

World powerless to stop North Korea
Despite widespread condemnation of North Korea's nuclear test by the world's major powers, there is nothing they can do to stop Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The bigger question is whether South Korea and Japan will decide to go nuclear - a move that would undermine the influence of the United States and China in Northeast Asia. - Santaro Rey (May 26,'09)

Hatoyama gets his chance
Japan's opposition Democratic Party has chosen Yukio Hatoyama to take over following the scandal-tainted resignation of former party leader Ichiro Ozawa. Hatoyama is not the public's first choice, though his political pedigree rivals that of Prime Minister Taro Aso. Their upcoming national election replicates an earlier battle between their grandfathers in post-war Japan. - Kosuke Takahashi (May 18,'09)

Swine flu tests confidence in China, Japan
Unlike its SARS outbreak in 2003, China is trying to do everything right out in the open over the threat of H1N1, or swine flu. Not everyone agrees, however, that Beijing is on the right track - especially in Mexico. Japan, meanwhile, is trying to put an end to a series of false alarms. - Peter J Brown (May 7,'09)

Toyoda takes Toyota wheel
Akio Toyoda in a few weeks takes over the company that his grandfather founded and which is now the world's biggest automaker. Toyoda's work experience as much as his heritage will stand him in good stead as he seeks to steer Toyota through the wreckage of the global auto market. His optimistic outlook will also come in handy. - Todd Crowell (May 7,'09)

Chinese carriers - let them have them
It's only a matter of time before China develops and deploys its first aircraft carrier. But rather than protest, worried nations like Japan could keep in mind that such a project will take Beijing decades, and at considerable cost. In any event, a Chinese carrier strike group will be no match for the United States. (May 5,'09)

Parental love versus Kim Jong-il
Faded snapshots and a turtle-shell comb are all Shigeru and Sakie Yokota have to remind them of their daughter, Megumi, who as a 13-year-old schoolgirl was among 17 Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. The parents' crusade against the North since has taken a heavy emotional toll. - Kosuke Takahashi (Apr 27,'09)

Unholy partners
Respected commentator Richard Katz is right to dismiss easy comparisons between Japan's economic experience in the "lost decade" of the 1990s and the present financial predicament of the United States. Yet consideration of the two countries' elites reveals a more disquieting picture. - R Taggart Murphy (Apr 27,'09)

The missile fizzles of April
Japan is relieved it didn't have to follow through on its tough talk against North Korea's ballyhooed missile launch. The Taepodong-2 flew over Japan without incident, letting Prime Minister Taro Aso off the hook after his crisis management skills were undercut by a series of blunders by his military. - Todd Crowell (Apr 7,'09)

Missile debris may include the yen
The Japanese currency, already falling as Japan's "safe-haven" status loses its luster, may take a further hit if a North Korean missile launch heightens local security concerns. - Kosuke Takahashi (Apr 3,'09)

Controversy stalks Tokyo tribunals
The Tokyo war crimes trial, known officially as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, 1946-1948, was the Pacific counterpart to the first Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II. Polemical at the time, it remains even more so today. Although it helped shape international law, it also introduced the notion of "victors' justice", by which judgments for war crimes apply only to the weak and the defeated. - John Feffer (Apr 1,'09)

READY, AIM, FIRE ...
Japan on Friday began readying its costly ballistic missile shield, saying it would not hesitate to destroy any ballistic missile fired from North Korea if it - or its debris - looked like hitting the country. Similarly, South Korea has mobilized its premier warship equipped with the Aegis counter-missile guidance system. If Pyongyang does indeed let loose a Taepodong-2, the best thing that can happen in this tense situation is that the Japanese and South Koreans are way off target. (Mar 27,'09)

South Korea on alert - Donald Kirk

Japan takes aim - Kosuke Takahashi

Japan in search of a grand strategy
In the current economic downturn, Japan needs to call on its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and develop a new strategy. Such a plan would have to navigate between the rapidly shifting configuration of forces and ideas around the globe and the robust mindset of Japanese that yearns for stability and continuity. - Takashi Inoguchi (Mar 26,'09)

Tight race for atomic agency's hot seat
Mohamed ElBaradei's 12-year run as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency is coming to an end, with two candidates battling for the post. Japan's Yukiya Amano is said to be less political than South African Abdul Samad Minty, who would be more willing to help mediate nuclear disputes. Washington prefers the former. - Todd Crowell (Mar 24,'09)

Japan's 'Destroyer' torpedoed by scandal
The hopes of Japan's opposition leader, Ichiro Ozawa, tipped to be the next prime minister, appear dashed due to a political donation scandal that has led to the arrest of his state-funded secretary. It is an issue with implications far beyond the domestic arena, as Ozawa apparently supports an almost complete US withdrawal from Japanese territory. - Kosuke Takahashi (Mar 6,'09)

BOOK REVIEW
Anime and Japan's postmodern monsters
Otaku: Japan's Database Animals by Hiroki Azuma
About two decades ago, a geeky breed of techno-loners known as otaku emerged in Japan, spawning an industry that churned out anime, manga and video games. But a string of murders and the subculture's offbeat erotica have earned otaku a reputation as "perverts and threats to society", writes Azuma. As he points out, we may all be more in touch with our inner otaku than we care to admit. - David Wilson (Mar 6,'09)

New US tone, same old issues
Though United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Asian tour did assure regional powerhouses of Washington's commitment to changing its foreign policy tone, its actual approach to the issues remains the same. The US is still figuring out how to convince North Korea to return to the negotiation table, while also taking a pragmatic approach to a rising China. - Jing-dong Yuan (Feb 26,'09)

Aso's US visit a double-edged sword
The thorny Japan-United States relationship has in part led to the fall of a string of Japanese prime ministers in recent years. Incumbent Taro Aso, who met with US President Barack Obama this week, believes he can buck the trend by answering Washington's calls. But with his popularity at an all-time low, plenty of other issues could bring him down. - Kosuke Takahashi (Feb 25,'09)

Russia enters LNG market
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso attended the inauguration last week of Russia's first liquefied natural gas plant. The US$22 billion project will help diversify Japan's gas supply - if not its sense of energy security. (Feb 25,'09)

Japan's opposition gathers momentum
The fortunes of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have headed steeply downhill since Junichiro Koizumi's retirement in 2006. If the polls are anything to go by, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan will emerge victorious in the upcoming general elections. Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's unorthodox meeting with the party's leader certainly lends weight to such speculation. - Purnendra Jain (Feb 19,'09)

Clinton confronts Japan's abduction issue
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kicked off her Asian tour by backing Japan on the highly emotional issue of the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korea. This could make the six-nation talks aimed at containing Pyongyang's nuclear program more difficult, but Clinton seems up for the challenge. - Kosuke Takahashi (Feb 18,'09)

US and Japan build a new Silk Road
By helping establish a new Eurasian transport corridor, Japan can honor commitments to its ally Washington in the "war on terror", and revive its long-lost Central Asian initiative. This re-energized role in the region - namely, sending troops to Afghanistan - fits in well with Tokyo's vision for an invigorated Japanese diplomatic strategy in the 21st century. (Feb 17,'09)

A new tone as Clinton comes calling
By selecting East Asia as Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as United States secretary of state, a significant message has been sent about where US foreign policy is headed under President Barack Obama. With stops in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and China, Clinton's trip will go a long way in showing whether or not the new administration can deliver on its message of change. - Nehginpao Kipgen (Feb 11,'09)

Japan on the brink of the abyss?
Two decades after Japan's own economic bubble burst, the country has had time enough to develop a strong base that could withstand the present global downturn. Instead, it may be in an even worse position than the United States. - Andrew DeWit (Feb 5,'09)

Japan caught in abductions trap
Japan's obsession with the 17 Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s obscures where its national interests really lie - in getting North Korea's nuclear weapons program under control. If progress is to be made in that regard, the United States has some sweet talking to do in Tokyo.(Feb 5,'09)

Japan frets over the US's F-22s
Japan is watching closely United States President Barack Obama's decision on whether or not to continue building the expensive F-22 Raptor. Tokyo has long coveted the aircraft, considered the most advanced fighter in the world, and it has the money. The problem of a US Congress ban on the export of advanced fighters to Japan might also force Tokyo to look elsewhere. - Kosuke Takahashi (Feb 4,'09)

COMMENT
US seigniorage and Japan
American politicians and central bankers since Ronald Reagan have abused what amounts to seigniorage covering the whole planet. Often overlooked is the degree of Japanese complicity and the danger that Japan, holder of trillions of US dollars, now faces. - R Taggart Murphy (Feb 3,'09)

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