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Japan, the Middle Power
10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM
When Ichiro Ozawa left the LDP in 1993 to assemble a non-LDP coalition government, Americans were hopeful Japan would finally play a role in global affairs that was commensurate with its status as the world's second-largest economic power. After all, Ozawa espoused a belief in the need for Japan to become a "normal" nation, and his Blueprint for a New Japan outlined an ambitious vision for political reform that would subordinate bureaucrats to politicians in the cabinet and make Japan a more active participant in global affairs. Now that program looks ever more likely to come to pass. In September the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power—with Ozawa serving as secretary-general—and upon taking office the new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, announced sweeping new changes that echo Ozawa's plan.
Is ‘Buy American’ a Slogan Worth Preserving?
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM
Call it the Rubber-Chicken War—the looming trade dispute between the United States (which has announced punitive tariffs on imports of Chinese tires) and China (which is threatening retaliation against American poultry exports). Against the background of the G20 trade talks in Pittsburgh, that contretemps made this an auspicious time to examine the age-old question of protectionism. Last week, beginning the fourth season of public debates sponsored by Intelligence Squared US, six panelists discussed the proposition that "Buy American/Hire American policies will backfire."
The Real Yukio Hatoyama
Takashi Yokota 9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM
For the first time since he became Japan's prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama will address the international community this week, with an ambitious statement at the United Nations in which he is expected to promise that Japan will take the lead in the effort to build a world free of nuclear weapons. But in many ways, Hatoyama's speech will be far more than that: it will represent the formal introduction of a man whose lofty, sometimes esoteric rhetoric has given him an early reputation as something of a mystery man.
Batman in Jerusalem
Kevin Peraino 9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM
Yet as the two sides work out the final details on the West Bank, they're looking further apart then ever on one key location: East Jerusalem. That's because Israel views the area as an integral part of the country where it can build at will, while the United States—and most other countries—sees it as occupied territory like the rest of the West Bank, and thus the subject of negotiations on a future Palestinian state.
Opposition Permission
Babak Dehghanpisheh 9/18/2009 12:00:00 AM
For hardliners in Iran, Quds Day [Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem] has traditionally been an occasion to flood the streets with supporters and express sympathy for the Palestinians. This year, however, the opposition co-opted the event. Tens of thousands of protestors poured into the streets of Tehran on Friday, wearing wristbands, scarves, and banners in green—the color of the opposition—to denounce June's disputed presidential elections and the subsequent crackdown.
A French Kiss From Japan
9/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
There's more to Japan's new first couple than meets the eye. The prime minister's wife, Miyuki Hatoyama, claims to have befriended Tom Cruise in a previous life when he was, apparently, Japanese. Meanwhile, the prime minister himself has been behaving like the reincarnation of a French intellectual.