
Abe’s comeback and the outlook for a general election
September 25, 2017Author: Tobias Harris
Categories: Japan Political Pulse
Given Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s current status — recovering approval ratings, high marks for his handling of a serious foreign policy crisis, with an established opposition party in seemingly terminal decline, and a new opposition party scrambling to prepare for an election — the political logic of a snap election is indisputable. This analysis takes an in-depth look at public opinion polls on Abe and what they reveal about the coming election.
Tags: Abe, Asahi Shimbun, Cabinet, election, Japan, japan political pulse, jiji press, jpp, Kake Gakuen, kyodo news, LDP, Liberal Democratic Party, Mainichi Shimbun, moritomo gakuen, NHK, Nikkei, North Korea, Nuclear, poll, polling, public opinion, Shinzo Abe, snap election, tobias harris, yomiuru shimbun

Japanese public’s unease about U.S.-Japan relationship grows, but so does support for efforts to preserve it
January 30, 2017Author: Tobias Harris
Categories: Japan Political Pulse
A new round of public opinion polls shows that public anxiety about the future of the U.S.-Japan relationship has worsened since Trump was inaugurated on January 20. However, just because the Japanese public expects the relationship to worsen does not mean that voters will not support a bid by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to find common ground with the Trump administration.
Tags: Abe, donald trump, election, international relations, kyodo, Nikkei, political standing, polling, public opinion, Shinzo Abe, stability, TPP, trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership, trump, us-japan alliance, us-japan relations, yomiuri

Video: Panel talks Trump administration, U.S.-Japan relations at Wilson Center
November 18, 2016Categories: Sasakawa USA Blog
Sasakawa USA Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Hornung had the opportunity to weigh in on how the incoming Donald Trump administration could steer U.S.-Japan relations when he spoke as part of a panel discussion for the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program. Click through for a full video of the program.
Tags: asia program, donald trump, election, jeffrey hornung, president trump, shihoko goto, shingo yamagami, trump, us-japan relations, wilson center, woodrow wilson center

Niigata voters elect antinuclear governor in blow to Abe’s energy policy
October 25, 2016Author: Nippon.com
Categories: Energy and Technology, In-Depth with Nippon.com
Antinuclear candidate Yoneyama Ryuichi won the Niigata gubernatorial contest on October 16, 2016, in a setback to the government’s efforts to restart Tokyo Electric Power’s largest nuclear plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located in the prefecture.
Tags: Abe, election, energy policy, Fukushima, governor, kashiwazaki-kariwa, Komeito, LDP, Liberal Democratic Party, Nuclear, Nuclear energy, Sendai, Shinzo Abe, tokyo electric power, yoneyama ryuichi

Koike Yuriko Named Tokyo’s First Female Governor
August 3, 2016Author: Nippon.com
Categories: In-Depth with Nippon.com
On July 31, 2016, former Minister of Defense Koike Yuriko was elected as the new governor of Tokyo. Running as an independent candidate, she defeated Masuda Hiroya, the former minister of internal affairs and communications who was endorsed ahead of her by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Kōmeitō. Koike becomes the first female governor of Tokyo and the ninth person to hold the position in the postwar era. In winning the gubernatorial contest, she will be the international face of the Japanese capital in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Tags: 1945 Tokyo Air Raid, election, First Female Governor, governor, independent voters, Koike Yuriko, LDP, Masuda Hiroya, Tokyo, Tokyo Election, Tokyo Governor, Tokyo Olympics, Torigoe Shuntaro, yuriko koike