Yoshida Jun, Professor, Kyoto University Impressions of the Self-Defense Forces To begin with, please take a look at the list in Table. This list shows the top ten works most commonly mentioned in response to the question “If there are any novels, manga, anime, movies, or dramas [omit] that have greatly influenced your impressions and opinions about Japan’s defense system and the Self-Defense Forces (SDFs), please list them — as many as you like.” The Study Group on Military Culture, which is made up of sociological and historical researchers, conducted an “Awareness Survey on Self-Defense Forces” in January and February 2021 and received responses from approximately 2,000 people across Japan (Study Group on  Military Culture, “Report on How Japanese Society Views Self-Defense Forces ‘Awareness Survey on Self-Defense Forces’” (Seikyusha, 2021)). Table 1 shows some of these responses. The fact that Umizaru (Sea monkeys), ... ... [Read more]

  Ohi Akai, Adjunct Lecturer, Hiroshima Institute of Technology   Thirty years have passed since the political realignment in 1993. Having seen the political upheaval over the last three decades, the time has come to analyze contemporary political history, and the owl of Minerva is set to take its flight. In this article, I propose a framework to understand contemporary Japanese politics through the following three issues. First, the 1993 political realignment and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) split shifted Japan’s political confrontation from a dichotomy of “conservatism vs progressivism” to a tripolar structure of “conservatives/former progressives/neoliberals” (1993 System). Second, in current Japanese politics this tripolar structure comprises the “LDP and Komeito coalition/opposition parties (Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan [CDPJ], Democratic Party for the People [DPP], Social Democratic Party [SDP], Japanese Communist Party [JCP], Reiwa Shinsengumi [Reiwa])/Japan Innovation Party [JIP],” with power relations among ... ... [Read more]

  Hosoya Yuichi, Professor, Keio University   If Yoshida Shigeru (1878–1967) laid the foundation for Japanese diplomacy after World War II, it was the former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo who updated it to a post-Cold War Japanese foreign policy. The politician who made the post-Cold War Exactly 60 years ago, in September 1962, political scientist and Kyoto University assistant professor Kosaka Masataka (1934–1996), returned from his studies at Harvard University, and was staying at the International House of Japan (IHJ) in Tokyo. IHJ research director Royama Michio (1928–2009) contacted Kasuya Kazuki (1930–2014), editor-in-chief of Chuokoron, and recommended that he meet with the young political scientist. Immediately, Kasuya got in contact with Kosaka, who was around the same age, and arranged for a meeting. After meeting and hitting it off with Kosaka, Kasuya asked him to write a manuscript, which became the opening article in ... ... [Read more]

  Professor Uno Shigeki (University of Tokyo) vs Professor Nakakita Koji (Hitotsubashi University) Reflecting on the Upper House election in July 2022 Uno Shigeki: The Upper House election in July produced a landslide for the ruling coalition, but since the rate of votes obtained by proportional representation has been decreasing little by little with each election, one would have to say that rather than overwhelming support winning the day for the ruling coalition, the opposition parties have self-destructed. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), in particular, has kept its position as the leading opposition party in terms of the number of parliamentary seats, but in terms of proportional representation, it has been overtaken by the Japan Innovation Party (JIP). The present Upper House election should have been one election, but to me it appears as if two games played out. For the Liberal ... ... [Read more]

  Shimizu Yuichiro, Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University On July 8, I was in Nagano City in Nagano Prefecture on a research business trip when I heard reports about the assassination of the former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. I had seen a notice on a poster for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates on a noticeboard for the Upper House election. The notice said, “16:55 Nagano Station Speaker Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.” I noted the date in my diary to take the opportunity to hear him. However, the speech in Nagano was canceled and Abe went to support another candidate at Nara City where the incident took place. As if to muffle the indescribable feelings, something that happened 101 years ago came to mind. On November 4, 1921, Prime Minister Hara Takahashi (1856–1921), the “Commoner Prime Minister,” was stabbed to death ... ... [Read more]

  Taniguchi Masaki, Professor, University of Tokyo   Key points The impact of Abe’s absence on the administration is uncertain. Leaving government debt and population decline unchecked will be fatal. There is an urgent need for the CDPJ to restore trust in its economic policies.   Media coverage reported that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was in the lead from the beginning of the election, and the results were generally as expected. But the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, which occurred two days before election day, sent shockwaves through the domestic and international communities. Even if the motives were not political, this heinous act undermined Japanese democratic politics and as such should be categorically condemned. The impact of the tragic events will be reflected in post-election politics. As a hawkish debater, Abe led LDP conservatism from the mid-2000s. The figure shows the ... ... [Read more]

Iokibe Makoto, President of the Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute, former Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council following the Great East Japan Earthquake ――It’s been 10 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake. You served as chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Iokibe Makoto: I guess I was nominated as Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council because of my experience from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, which marked a major turning point in Japan’s disaster response and reconstruction policy approach. At the same time, I was also a victim myself. My house in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture was completely destroyed, and, at Kobe University where I worked, 39 students, including my seminar student, and two members of staff lost their lives. All in all, the earthquake caused the deaths of 6,343 people.  Having unexpectedly become a victim myself, ... ... [Read more]

  The Japan-U.S. alliance is founded on the notion of “bases in exchange for security” and Japan’s base issue is a domestic problem. However, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is ambiguous on the question of where the burden of the alliance’s costs lies, making Okinawa’s base problem difficult to resolve solely from the standpoint of a domestic dichotomy. Kawana Shinji, Associate Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology   This year marks the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese administration. In this landmark year, Japan will hold House of Councillors elections, mayoral elections, local government elections in 7 cities and 11 towns and villages, and 30 municipal assembly elections. The major point of contention in the elections is likely to be the issue of relocating the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (Futenma air base) to Henoko. In the face-off between the All Okinawa group, the Liberal ... ... [Read more]

Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan   We need to upgrade capitalism now My proposal for a “new form of capitalism” has received considerable feedback, including some requests that I clarify its aims. In response to these comments, in this article I will discuss the grand design of my proposal for this new form of capitalism. We live in a capitalist society. Capitalism—a creation of the human race—has continually evolved by repeatedly rebalancing efficient resource allocation through the market mechanism and external diseconomies, such as pollution, a result of market failure. For a long time, capitalism has also been the driving force of growth in the world economy. The expansion of welfare state initiatives in the second half of the twentieth century and the subsequent neoliberalist policies are all part of this process of correcting capitalism and the evolution of capitalism. According to neoliberalism, ... ... [Read more]

(Discuss Japan note: The text in square brackets was added by the author for this reprint.)   Takenaka Harukata, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies   “Some have pointed out that neoliberal policies have had the harmful effect of creating a deep rift between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’” During his policy speech to the lower and upper houses on October 8, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio expressed a negative view of neoliberal policies. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito secured a majority of seats in the October 31 Lower House election and intend to continue their administration. This article takes as its premise that Prime Minister Kishida will continue in his post following the leadership election. In it, I discuss future challenges for the Prime Minister. Due to restrictions on space, I will focus on the policy areas of COVID-19 measures ... ... [Read more]