J Update

The leader seems to have taken appeasement policy to settle a long dispute over territory. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in his interview to a local newspaper, admitted that Japan's change of attitude from reclaiming four islands, one of which is actually archipelago, to dividing them into two. He explained his decision as viable and realistic, putting aside a fact that Russia have shown no interest in it and kept its standpoint of not returning even two islands. It is still unclear whether current Japanese administration will follow that diplomatic outcome.      In the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Singapore in 2018, Abe proposed to accelerate the negotiation over the territory based on Joint Declaration of Japan and Soviet Union 1956, which determined transferring Habomai Islands and island of Shikotan after the conclusion of peace treaty. In his interview to Hokkaido Shimbun, Abe told that he thought it was "a big chance" and demerit of losing th...

The governmental panel on stable imperial succession on Wednesday submitted two proposals to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, which fundamentally deferred requirement of National Diet to address gradual shrinking of the imperial family. While Imperial House Law Article 1 determines that "The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by a male offspring in the male line belonging to the Imperial Lineage," majority of the Japanese public has been understanding the necessity of female emperor. The panel, however, did not respond to those voices and, instead, is likely to have followed paternal preference of the conservatives.      Both proposals are about how to keep the members in imperial family with various opportunities to show up in ceremonial events or national activities. One is allowing female members retaining their imperial status after the marriage with a commoner, and another is include male heirs from former branches to imperial family by adoption, or direct inclusion ...

Trying to catch up with the efforts of recovery from infectious devastation in the world, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida raised his voice to sell his concept of updating Japanese society. In his policy speech on day 1 of extraordinary session of national Diet, Kishida insisted on promoting “neo-capitalism,” in which he would seek double track of growth and distribution, as a replacement of neo-liberalism economy. It seems to be a transition of Japan’s status from taking outstanding position in international economy to moderate and self-sufficient growth.      Kishida argued that achieving neo-capitalism was a common goal of America or Europe in the post-COVID world. Based on the notion that capitalism brought prosperity to human society through efficiency, entrepreneurship or vigorous production, and that neo-liberalism after 1980s caused various inconvenience such as wider income gap or prevalence of poverty, he regarded Build Back Better of US Biden administration or Next...