Japan's inflation election masks a deeper democratic reckoning
Tobias Harris is the founder of Japan Foresight. He is the author of "The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan."
Japanese party leaders are focusing heavily on pocketbook issues in their appeals to voters at the start of the campaign for the July 20 upper house elections.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
15 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Rapp-Hooper: Like-Minded Countries Show Resilience Despite U.S. Unpredictability; No More Important U.S. Ally Than Japan
The tariff measures of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have revealed that being a privileged U.S. security partner does not necessarily mean being a privileged economic partner, former Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy of the U.S. National Security Council Mira Rapp-Hooper said in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun. The following is excerpted from the interview, which was conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yuko Mukai. *** I'm very relieved that the United States and Japan were able to conclude a trade negotiation after intensive engagements over the last many months. Japan is a critical ally to the United States and a critical economic partner, and having trade issues remain an irritant would have placed downward pressure on the totality of the relationship. We calculated that the LDP's setback [in the House of Councillors election on July 20] would actually make a trade deal more difficult in the coming days, but the fact that a trade deal was reached is testimony to the fact that both sides had done a good job of preparing for that moment of opportunity when it came. The critical piece, as I understand, is that the Trump administration finally demonstrated flexibility on auto tariffs, which up until that point, it had not done, and the Japanese government was then able to grant a little bit of flexibility on rice imports under the existing quota, which was something that mattered a lot to the Trump administration. I also think that elements of this trade deal recognize the critical role that Japan already plays in the U.S. economy, such as as a driver of high quality investment. I think there's no doubt that the tariff policy has impacted public opinion of the United States, in Japan and around the world, especially in allied countries. Part of what is being captured in that public opinion is, for allied countries, typically American security commitments and American economic commitments, openness to trade, have traveled together. So, part of what was demonstrated in the April 2nd tariffs was the fact that just because you are a privileged U.S. security partner did not mean you would be a privileged U.S. economic partner. The era that we knew as the post-Cold War era has come to an end, and we are at a moment of significant flux in which we don't exactly know how we will define the international order that is coming next. We are headed into a world that is much more multipolar. In that world, the United States is still extremely powerful, but it has competition when it comes to the exercise of its power on the global stage, and power is much more diffused than it has been in any time in recent memory. President Trump is playing the role of an accelerant, or an accelerator, on these trends towards multipolarity. Obviously, China is going to be extremely powerful. So too do we expect economies like India to keep growing at a significant rate. It is very hard to know after three more years of Donald Trump's presidency, where exactly this will all leave us. What is clear is that the United States is not going to be able to go back into the exact same leadership position that [it] has occupied during the post-Cold War period. It's going to need to adjust itself come 2029, once President Trump is no longer president, to a changed set of global circumstances. That certainly means finding a way to renew its relationships with key allies, because those are such an essential part of American power. And I think you even saw over the course of [former U.S.] President [Joe] Biden's four years, the challenges sort of piling up in ways that tested the United States' ability to do everything it wanted to do on the global stage. Just a year into the administration, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2023, you saw another horrible attack on Oct. 7 that plunged the Middle East into conflict, Americans have demonstrated, in their public opinion over the course of the last couple of decades, increasing disaffection with American involvement in faraway, long-lasting wars, and have some skepticism about vast expenditure overseas, if they think those same dollars could be used at home. I think one of the really critical charges for whomever the next U.S. president will be, whether they be a Democrat or a more mainstream Republican, will be to think about how to link our foreign policy objectives on the global stage to a rhetoric and a narrative capability that actually works for the American people. Part of the beauty of what the United States built with Japan and other regional partners over recent years is that those networks of alliances and partnerships in the Indo Pacific and in Europe have actually created resilience amongst allies and partners that they can draw upon now. So whether it's Japan's leadership in the Quad [a cooperation framework among Japan, the United States, Australia and India], the U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral, Japan's relationships with India, Australia, Vietnam individually, or the fact that Japan has forged much stronger ties with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] allies, these are all basically like-minded countries that came together because they agreed they had a common set of strategic objectives in the world at a moment where the United States may feel more unpredictable, a little bit less reliable in its day to day interactions. It is highly likely that wherever the United States winds up three years from now, we are still living in a world where Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that Asia is the priority theater for the future and that there is no more important ally in Rapp-Hooper Mira Rapp-Hooper served as director for Indo-Pacific strategy of the U.S. National Security Council under the administration led by former U.S. President Joe Biden. She joined the administration after working on Hillary Clinton's U.S. presidential election campaign. Rapp-Hooper holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She is a partner at The Asia Group, a consulting firm led by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
The Mainichi
11 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Newly elected legislator LaSalle Ishii arrives at upper house with school backpack
TOKYO -- An extraordinary session of the Diet was convened Aug. 1, with newly elected House of Councillors members arriving at the Diet building for the first time since the July 20 election, including LaSalle Ishii of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who turned up with a small school backpack. Explaining his reason for sporting the "randoseru" backpack, commonly used by elementary school students in Japan, the 69-year-old Ishii said, "It's because I'm a brand new first year student." He was presented with a bouquet of flowers by party leader Mizuho Fukushima. Surrounded by reporters, he remarked, "There are more cameras than ever before. I keenly feel that this is a heavy responsibility." Ishii has a past career as an actor. Regarding his activities as a lawmaker, he expressed enthusiasm, saying, "People say 'the SDP's claims are just nice words,' but I want to advance politics with the mindset, 'What's wrong with having idealistic dreams?'" (Japanese original by Tohru Shirakawa, Tokyo Bureau)
The Mainichi
12 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Editorial: Japan must pass relief bill for WWII civilian air raid victims on 80th anniv.
The Japanese government has yet to provide relief to people who suffered damage from air raids and other atrocities across the country during the Pacific War, and the Diet once again failed to act on this issue during the ordinary session that closed in late June. These people are victims of a war initiated by the state. Nevertheless, the government has done nothing to compensate them. Such absurdities can no longer be left unaddressed. A cross-party group of lawmakers drew up a bill over the issue. It includes a uniform lump-sum payment of 500,000 yen (approx. $3,300) to those who suffered physical and psychological wounds and disabilities. The bill also incorporates a fact-finding survey by the government over the damage wrought by air raids. Due to stalled coordination within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, where some lawmakers have strong reservations, the multiparty parliamentary group was unable to submit the bill to the Diet. The victims of aerial bombings and other damage were significantly disappointed, as they had hoped for legislation this year, the 80th anniversary of the war's end. The Japanese government has paid pension and other benefits to former military personnel and civilian military employees, as well as their bereaved families. However, it has not compensated other civilians except for survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rhetoric employed to justify this was the "doctrine of endurance obligation" -- that members of the public must equally endure sacrifices and damage from the war. The Supreme Court in 1987 tapped this doctrine to dismiss a lawsuit over the great Nagoya air raids of late World War II, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba recently stated in response to a Diet question that this precedent cannot be contravened. There have, however, been changes in the judiciary's line of thought. In lawsuits filed in 2007 and 2008 by victims of the 1945 Great Tokyo Air Raids, the court did not cite the endurance doctrine as a reason for ruling against the plaintiffs, and urged a solution through legislation. Regardless, the government has been slow to act. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has emphasized a 2005 agreement by the government and ruling parties that all postwar settlement measures would end with a project to provide consolation gifts to former Siberian labor camp internees. Yet a system to pay special benefits to former Siberian internees was later established. The agreement cannot serve as a basis for denying any new postwar compensation programs. The government's stance seems to betray its true concern: That providing relief to strategic bombing victims could expand the scope of compensation. The cross-party bill does not cover bereaved families and war orphans, because it prioritizes Diet passage over truly sufficient provisions -- a painful decision by the victims of air raids and other wartime damage. While those entitled to the lump-sum payments was expected to be around 4,600 people five years ago when the bill's outline was drafted, the number has now dwindled to about 3,200. As the victims age, we have no time to lose. The relief bill must be passed swiftly into law.
