Maekawa Testifies: Prime Minister Abe Ordered School Given Special Approval

Maekawa Testifies Before The Diet

A former top education ministry bureaucrat told the Diet Monday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office had significant influence over the government's decision to approve a new department at a university run by his friend.  

Kihei Maekawa testified, "Prime Minister Abe ordered that the school be given special approval in veterinary medicine.  He knew and his aids went to the Education Ministry and got special approval."

Abe's aide was clearly involved in the approval process for the veterinary department at the Okayama University of Science in a government-designated special economic zone, said Maekawa, former vice minister of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Attending as an unsworn witness, Maekawa told a Diet committee, "The prime minister's office worked behind the scenes," adding that the Cabinet Office, and the prime minister's office, was responsible for dealing with issues related to special economic zones.

Kotaro Kake, chairman of Kake Educational Institution, which runs the university, is known as a close friend of the prime minister.

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party agreed to briefly reopen parliament for committee deliberations, as requested by opposition parties.

But the deliberations were held when Abe was away for a tour of European countries including participation in the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, prompting opposition parties' demand for his attendance at a separate parliament session.

Appearing in the joint session of the House of Representatives' Cabinet affairs and education committees, Maekawa reiterated that the review process was "unclear" and "unfair," citing insufficient discussion of whether Kake Educational Institution met conditions to launch Japan's first vet school in half a century.

During a similar session in the House of Councillors in the afternoon, the former top bureaucrat also said Hiroto Izumi, Abe's assistant, urged him in September and October last year to speed up the procedure, saying he was making the request on behalf of Abe "because the prime minister cannot say it by himself."

Abe has come under fire over suspicions he influenced the approval process for the opening of the new department at the university in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.

Such suspicions have grown after the revelation of documents indicating that officials of the Cabinet Office pressured the education ministry ahead of the selection of Kake.

Maekawa has said he remembers having seen some of the documents while he was still working at the ministry.

The documents, which Maekawa insists are authentic, state the officials employed phrases such as "what the highest level of the prime minister's office has said" and "in line with the prime minister's wishes." Abe and other Cabinet members have repeatedly denied wrongdoings.

It is the second scandal related to school operators close to Abe. He has drawn suspicion over his dubious ties with private school operator Moritomo Gakuen, which purchased state-owned land in Osaka at a dramatically reduced price. Abe's wife Akie was named honorary principal of the elementary school that Moritomo planned to open at the site.

Maekawa resigned in January to take responsibility for a scandal in which the ministry systematically secured post-retirement jobs for its bureaucrats.

Kyodo

Bureauctrats, Red Tape, Land Deals, And Shinzo Abe

Have you met a government employee at a government office who mercilessly scanned every detail of a written application and rejected it for any small issue? Such people are said to have a "bureaucratic" mind. Their sole purpose is to approve or reject the piles of government red tape.

The expression "red tape" originates with the red ribbon that once bound official documents in Britain. Today, it has come to represent what we mere common people see as document worship by the staff of government offices. In recent times, the bureaucracy's "document-ism" is intended to guarantee the preservation of evidence of official government actions, projects and decision-making so that it can be examined later. 

It needs to be impossible for the government to be bereft of records to show how it decided to sell a plot of state-owned land for just 14 percent of its appraised value. Of course, we are talking about the Finance Ministry's handling of just such a sale to nationalist private school operator Moritomo Gakuen. Surely those responsible for caring for Japanese people's assets have an obligation to maintain proof that they are carrying out this management fairly. 

What is surprising about the Moritomo affair is that the finance bureau head who so bluntly insisted during Diet discussions that the sale was "appropriate" while maintaining that "there are no records" has gone on to the top post in the National Tax Agency. Taxpayers struggling with the ample volumes of tax-system red tape must be astonished at the Finance Ministry's idea of "fairness." 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is in the nerve center of the government which now holds authority over bureaucrats' postings, stated recently that the aforementioned promotion stemmed from the principle of "the right person in the right place." Surely he did not mean that the government thought highly of the new National Tax Agency chief's handling of the Moritomo scandal, in which he could not verify the legitimacy of the land sale and as a result fueled public distrust in the government. Neither the administration nor the Finance Ministry should be so dismissive of taxpayers' feelings. 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now obsessed with revising the Constitution, but we would like him to think about what in this world gave rise to two other constitutions, namely Britain's Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, it was unjust taxation and unfair spending that sparked the fury of the people to demand the reforms embodied in these documents.

Diet Investigation Of Kihei Maekawa To Proceed Without PM Abe Present

LDP Lawmaker  Under Investigation For Favoritism

Japan's ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to briefly reopen the Diet next week for one-off committee deliberations, with plans to investigate a former top bureaucrat at the education ministry who has come forward alleging favoritism by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The agreement came shortly after the main opposition Democratic Party spurned an offer by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for committee deliberations on July 10 or 11, on the grounds that Abe would be unable to attend them due to an overseas trip.

Meeting with LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Wataru Takeshita for a second time on Tuesday, Democratic Party Diet affairs chief Kazunori Yamanoi agreed to hold committee deliberations on July 10 after the LDP consented to summoning Kihei Maekawa as an unsworn witness.

Maekawa, a former vice minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, is likely to be asked about allegations that Abe has used his power as prime minister to help Kake Educational Institution, whose president is a close friend, open a veterinary medicine department in a special economic zone.

Emboldened by the LDP's crushing defeat in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, the Democratic Party and several other opposition parties agreed earlier in the day to call for committee deliberations or a new session of the Diet, amid a number of scandals dogging the government and ruling party.

With Abe scheduled not to return to Japan until July 12, the committee deliberations in both houses on July 10 will be held without him. But Takeshita told Yamanoi that the LDP will "consider" holding a session of a parliamentary committee with the prime minister in attendance, according to the opposition lawmaker.

The previous Diet session ended last month, but one-off committee deliberations can be held without convening a new session.

Abe is scheduled to attend a summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Germany starting July 7 and visit several Scandinavian countries and Estonia before returning to Japan on July 12.

Maekawa, who resigned from the top bureaucratic post over an unrelated case in January, has drawn attention for publicly vouching for the authenticity of ministry documents that indicated Abe's influence over the school construction project.

At their meeting on Tuesday, senior officials of the Democratic Party, Japanese Communist Party, Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party also decided to call for the prime minister to dismiss Defense Minister Tomomi Inada over remarks she made during a stump speech that they argue amounted to making political use of the Self-Defense Forces.

The LDP lost its status as the leading force in the Tokyo assembly amid voter frustration with the Abe administration, which is embroiled in various controversies. Meanwhile, popular Gov. Yuriko Koike's Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First party) and allies won an overall majority in the 127-seat assembly.

Just days before Sunday's assembly election, Inada asked voters to back an LDP candidate, saying the request came from "the Defense Ministry, the SDF, the defense minister and the LDP."

Under the law governing the country's defense apparatus, the SDF is supposed to remain politically neutral and its personnel are restricted in their ability to engage in political activities.

Also during the campaign period, former education minister Hakubun Shimomura, who is a close aide to Abe and was responsible for the party's election campaign in the capital, was also reported to have mishandled political donations from Kake Educational Institution, which he denied.

Kyodo

PM Abe Needs Action Not Words

PM Shinzo Abe Speaks With Media Tuesday

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 3 repeatedly pledged to learn from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s crushing defeat in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election on the previous day.

“An extremely severe judgment was rendered by the people of Tokyo. We have to seriously accept it as a strict rebuke of the LDP and deeply reflect (on our acts and remarks),” said Abe, who is also the LDP president, at the prime minister’s office.

The question is what kind of lessons he will glean from the bitter political setback and how he will actually change his behavior.

Abe is said to be considering reshuffling his Cabinet, apparently in hopes of revitalizing his political leadership, which has taken a massive hit from the election results.

But a simple change in the Cabinet lineup is not what the public wants to see.

Abe has shown a tendency to make a sharp distinction between friend and foe and pay little attention to dissenting voices. He has also pushed through his policy initiatives forcefully by using the ruling coalition’s overwhelming majority in both chambers of the Diet.

The core challenge confronting Abe is whether he can really do serious soul-searching over his high-handed political approach and mend his ways.

During Diet sessions, Abe has heaped praise on opposition parties willing to work with his government while mounting scathing verbal attacks on opposition parties critical of his administration.

He has also utilized news media sympathetic to his views and opinions as channels to communicate his messages to the public.

In campaigning for the metropolitan assembly poll, both Abe and LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai pinned the blame on the party's uphill battle on media coverage of political scandals and gaffes.

Abe’s haughty refusal to listen to critics and dissenters in an arrogant attitude apparently driven by his dominant political power has also sapped the LDP’s own vigor.

During the four and a half years since his return to power, Abe has secured a tight grip over the party’s decisions on its official candidates for elections, key personnel appointments and distribution of political funds. Many LDP lawmakers now meekly kowtow to Abe’s leadership.

The LDP readily accepted a proposal to change the party rules to allow its president to serve up to three three-year terms for a total of nine years. This is another sign of the party being under Abe’s thumb.

The basic rules of democracy require that decisions be made by a majority vote in the end. But they also demand that the voices of the minority should also be heard for exhaustive debate on policy issues.

Abe should remember this principle and abandon his self-righteous refusal to heed dissenting voices.

In response to the LDP’s defeat in the Tokyo poll, the Abe administration is showing an inclination to allow Diet committees to hold deliberations while the Diet itself is not in session.

We welcome the move, but simply allowing out-of-session committee meetings will not be enough.

The Abe Cabinet should swiftly convene an extraordinary Diet session in response to opposition parties’ demand based on Article 53 of the Constitution.

Article 53 states that the Cabinet must convene such a session when “a quarter or more of the total members of either House makes the demand.”

This is a provision to guarantee minority groups’ right to make their voices heard at the Diet.

If Abe is serious about soul-searching, he should start by observing this constitutional provision.

Redressing mistakes made by the administrative branch of the government is an important responsibility of the legislature.

There should be no difference between ruling and opposition parties in commitment to this duty.

We urge LDP lawmakers to demonstrate their pride as the representatives of the people by calling on the prime minister to convene an extraordinary session.

In an Asahi Shimbun exit poll conducted during the July 2 election, 71 percent of the respondents said the administration’s response to the political scandal involving the Kake Educational Institution, a school operator with a link to Abe, has been “inappropriate.”

If Abe fails to match his words about soul-searching with concrete and convincing actions, public support for his administration will further wane.

Asahi

PM Shinzo Abe Faces Serious Challenges After Tokyo Election

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike

 A stinging rebuke by voters in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election Sunday is certain to set off postmortem finger-pointing and a strategic recalibration within Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party as he weighs a path forward for amending the constitution.

"We take the results seriously," a stunned Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai told reporters Sunday night. "We will reassess what needs to be reassessed and do our best to recover our lost ground." 

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's new Tomin First no Kai party and groups aligned with her captured 79 seats in the 127-member metropolitan assembly, handily defeating the LDP, which was left with a meager 23 seats, down from 57 before the election.

Hakubun Shimomura, who heads the LDP's Tokyo chapter but faces allegations of receiving murky political donations, attributed the party's loss to trouble on the national level. "Heavy headwinds were blowing far above, in national politics," he said in a Fuji Television program. He later told reporters that he plans to step down to take responsibility for the loss.

Abe's party had enjoyed unrivaled strength since unseating the Democratic Party of Japan in December 2012, as victories in three national-level elections followed. But a favoritism scandal involving a veterinary school run by a friend of Abe's as well as a gaffe by his hawkish defense minister on the campaign trail appear to have weakened public support.

Complications for Abe

In a Nikkei opinion poll conducted June 16-18, right before the start of campaigning for the metropolitan assembly election, approval ratings for the Abe cabinet stood at 49%, a 7-point drop from a month earlier. Abe's power inside the party could erode if his plunging support is viewed as the cause of the devastating loss in the crucial Tokyo vote.

Growing criticism within the party could complicate Abe's plan for an easy victory in the LDP presidential election in September 2018.

Shigeru Ishiba, a former regional revitalization minister who is believed to harbor ambitions for Abe's job, gave a scathing assessment. "We should acknowledge the historic defeat," he told The Nikkei. "This was not a victory for Tomin First no Kai, but a defeat for the LDP."

"Damage control is crucial," Ishiba added. "The timing of a cabinet shake-up and the new lineup will determine the future of government management going forward."

PM Abe Dismisses Calls For Imamura Resignation

Imamura At Diet Thursday

 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dismissed opposition calls Thursday for the resignation of the disaster reconstruction minister, Masahiro Imamura, over remarks implying Fukushima evacuees yet to return to parts of the prefecture deemed safe to live in should fend for themselves.

Masahiro Imamura had been defending at a Tuesday press conference the central government’s decision to delegate help for the “voluntary evacuees” from the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster when he said it is such people’s “own responsibility, their own choice” not to return.

“I want him to continue to be alongside those affected by the disaster and devote every effort to his duties with the aim of realizing reconstruction as soon as possible,” Abe said during a plenary session of the House of Representatives.

Earlier Thursday, Imamura, 70, apologized for “causing a nuisance to everyone” at a session of the lower house committee on reconstruction from the 2011 disaster.

Housing subsidies ran out last month for people who left areas other than government-designated zones around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At the Japanese Lower House of the Diet on Thursday Imamura said “Prime Minister Abe said I should apologize that I used a disparaging word and gave the impression that (the evacuees) are responsible for their own (return) despite the fact that they are displaced because of the nuclear disaster, and I deeply apologize,” Imamura said.

Kazuko Kori, a lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party the recovering area of northeastern Japan, had called for Imamura to resign because “we cannot discuss reconstruction under this minister.”

Many in the Diet have dismissed Imamura's aplogy as being nothing more than "Abe told me to, so that is the sole reason I am apologizing".

But Imamura vowed to “keep performing my duties in good faith.”

Imamura had aggressively lashed out at the reporter who had asked him the question on Tuesday, yelling “shut up” at the reporter during the press conference. He offered a brief apology the same day for having “become emotional.”

He said Thursday he is willing to apologize to the reporter, “if Prime Minister Abe said it is necessary.”

The lower house reconstruction committee is currently debating a proposal to reform a special law relating to the 2011 disaster that would see the state pay for cleanup efforts in the areas of Fukushima still too contaminated with radioactivity to live in.

Imamura has been in his post since a Cabinet reshuffle in August last year.

KYODO

Opposition Parties Want PM Shinzo Abe's Wife To Testify

PM Abe's Wife, Akie Abe

Four opposition parties on March 24 agreed to demand that first lady Akie Abe testify as a sworn witness in the Diet to determine who is lying in relation to a questionable deal over state-owned land.

The move comes a day after Yasunori Kagoike, chief of the Osaka-based Moritomo Gakuen educational institution, repeated his claims about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Akie, and the couple again rejected Kagoike’s words as falsehoods.

“There is a total contradiction in what Akie said and what Kagoike said,” Kazunori Yamanoi, Diet Affairs Committee chairman for the main opposition Democratic Party, said. “We are forced to make this request (to have Akie appear before the Diet) in order to clarify the facts.”

Kagoike, testifying as a sworn witness, told the Diet that he sought Akie’s help on a leasing deal for the state-owned land in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, that Moritomo Gakuen wanted to buy for a planned elementary school.

Kagoike also repeated that Akie gave him a 1 million yen ($9,000) donation from the prime minister.

The ruling coalition is opposed to calling Akie before the Diet on grounds that both she and her husband have repeatedly denied donating money to Kagoike or being involved in Moritomo Gakuen’s purchase of the land for 14 percent of its appraised value.

In Diet questioning on March 24, the prime minister again denied any involvement by him, his wife or his office in the land deal.

He and other government officials also blasted Kagoike’s claim that Akie gave him the money when they were alone in his office at Moritomo Gakuen.

“It is extremely regrettable that comments were made counter to the facts by laying out a situation involving a conversation in a closed room that makes it impossible to provide counter evidence,” Abe said at the Upper House Budget Committee on March 24.

He also criticized Kagoike for revealing only some of the e-mail exchanges between his wife and Akie to give the impression that the first lady had asked them to keep quiet about the evolving scandal.

The prime minister said he intended to disclose the e-mail exchange between the two women over a two-year period.

Kyodo

How Abe Administration Lost Australian Submarine Deal

 

French flag flies in Sydney celebrating submarine deal

Japan, the onetime frontrunner for a $50 billion ($38.8 billion) contract to build Australia’s new submarine fleet in partnership with Australian industry under the so-called SEA 1000 Future Submarine Programme, failed in its bid to assemble the boats.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced yesterday that French shipbuilder Direction des Constructions Navales Services (DCNS) will be awarded the contract–Australia’s largest defense deal ever– to build 12 Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A  subs, a diesel-electric derivative of DCNS’ Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarine, for the Royal Australian Navy.

Japan’s Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani appeared bewildered over Australia’s decision yesterday. “We will ask Australia to explain why they didn’t pick our design,” he said, according to Reuters.

Japan with its 4,000-ton Soryu-class diesel-electric attack stealth submarine fitted with a new lithium-ion battery propulsion system was long considered to be both the Australian government’s and analysts’ favorite pick.

Why the dramatic reversal of fortune for Japan’s defense industry?

Like with any large defense deal, the reasons for picking the military hardware of one country over that of another are manifold and not only confined to technical and military considerations, but are also subject to political and geostrategic calculi.

There are five major reasons why France won.

First, Japan heavily betted on the close relationship between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who purportedly promised Tokyo a sweetheart deal in which the submarines would be domestically constructed in Japan in order to bolster the Australia-Japan strategic relationship–and ultimately lost. It was only reluctantly that Abbott eventually agreed to a competitive evaluation process in February 2015 inviting, next to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation (KSC), French shipbuilder DCNS and the German company ThyssenKrupp AG (TKMS) to compete.

Once Abbott was ousted from power, Japan was merely one of three bidders and no longer received the political support it was accustomed to from the new Australian government under Malcolm Turnbull and had to revamp its strategy to win the bid. Japanese defense industry representatives were simply outmaneuvered by their French and German counterparts. Australia’s Senate Economics Legislation References Committee already rejected the Soryu-class as a suitable Collins-class replacement option once before in November 2014.

Second, picking DCNS over the MHI and KSC—both Japanese shipmakers building the Soryu-class boats—is also politically more opportune for Malcolm Turnbull at this stage. Australians are likely to head to the polls on July 2 in federal elections, in what is predicted to be a tight race between the governing Liberal-National Coalition and the Australian Labor Party. During the press conference yesterday, Turnbull said that the 12 submarines in their entirety (save some specialized parts) will be built in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia and home base of the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC).

South Australia is facing deindustrialization with the state’s last auto plant to be shut down at the end of 2016. As a consequence, creating new jobs will be vital for the Liberal-National Coalition to retain seats in the state and the decision to go with DCNS, according to Turnbull, will create more than 2,800 jobs. “Australian built, Australian jobs, Australian steel, here right where we stand,” he emphasized. DCNS purportedly agreed that all major work on the submarines will be done in Adelaide using domestic materials. Japan, however, initially was reluctant to build the submarines in Australia, given Tokyo’s general reluctance to transfer sensitive military technology abroad. Japan softened its stance on this issue over the last few months, but, as I have written previously, somewhat unconvincingly.

Third, Japan’s defense industry was not enthusiastic about selling Soryu-class submarines overseas. The two companies producing the submarine, MHI and KSC, currently have only the capacity to meet the domestic demand for submarines. Overall, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force plans to induct a total of 11 Soryu-class submarines by 2020. As of now, seven Soryu-class subs have been commissioned.  Due to the Japanese defense industries inexperience in dealing with international clients, there was also a growing concern in Australia that this could lead to a work culture clash, which would make collaboration on the project unnecessarily difficult.

Also, as The Diplomat reported previously, Japan still lacks experience in selling its military hardware including transferring sensitive defense technology to another country. Furthermore, “the Australian Defense Department appears concerned that any deal signed with Japan could be negated by the powerful Japanese bureaucracy, which allegedly [according to defense department sources] also showed ‘less enthusiasm (…) for the deal and that would undo it in the long run’” as I wrote

last week.

Fourth, the United States has tacitly been supporting the Japanese bid, but recently signaled Turnbull that its opposition to a potential European submarine supplier has plummeted. “Quiet U.S. pressure to opt for the Japanese submarines–U.S. officials allegedly indicated that the United States would not allow its most advanced weapons systems to be installed on European-made subs–has also apparently been dropped. U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the submarine deal was a sovereign issue of Australia and that the selection of France or Germany would not in any way affect the Australia-U.S. alliance,” I wrote last week.

Given that the Australian evaluation team and an expert advisory panel included senior former U.S. Navy officers, it is fair to assume that the U.S. Navy will allow its submarine systems, including a tactical control system, a Raytheon combat system (if selected), as well as weapons systems (e.g., Mark-48 torpedoes, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles) to be installed on the Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A  subs.

Fifth, while it is difficult to assess any submarine bid on an unclassified level, there is a fair argument to be made that the new Barracuda-class better meets Australia’s needs than the Japanese stealth submarines, although it remains to be seen how difficult a swap from nuclear power to a conventional system will be for DCNS. “This decision was driven by DCNS’s ability to best meet all of our unique capability requirements,” said Malcom Turnbull and Australia’s Minister for Defense Marine Payne in a joint statement published yesterday.

“These included superior sensor performance and stealth characteristics, as well as range and endurance similar to the Collins Class submarine. The Government’s considerations also included cost, schedule, program execution, through-life support and Australian industry involvement.”  DCNS has built more than 100 submarines for nine different navies and its ships are sailing on all five oceans–a major advantage over Japan, which has no submarine export experience.

There were a number of very specific technical requirements outlined by the Australian government as I reported previously:

The requirements outlined in the bid including a 4,000-ton displacement, a range and endurance similar to the Collins-class submarines, sensor performance and stealth abilities better than the Collins, and a combat system and heavyweight torpedo developed jointly by the U.S. and Australia as the preferred combat system and armament, makes an off-the-shelf solution not an option.

As I outlined before, the Australian submariner community remained skeptical of the Soryu-class submarines throughout the bidding process:

Among other things, they point out that on average Japanese subs are constructed to last for around 19 years, whereas the Australian governments expects at least a 30-year active service life span. The Japanese boats also have much less accommodation space than Collins-class submarines.

Additional objections where raised over the shorter patrol range of the Soryu-class sub in comparison to the current Collins-class and the Soryu’s lower transit speed. (Japan did issue a report claiming that concerns over the submarine’s limited cruising range were unfounded.) Furthermore, I explained: “[A]nother concern is the integration of a U.S. combat system and weapons (Mk 48 Mod 7 CBASS heavyweight torpedoes) into the Japanese hull.”

There has also been repeated safety concern over the use of advanced lithium-ion batteries. A former submarine engineer explained last week: “In the life of 100,000 [lithium-ion] cells and a fleet of 12 submarines there is likely to be a failure that cannot be stopped or controlled, with a catastrophic outcome. The Boeing 787 battery fires and the burning of the U.S. Navy’s Advanced Seal Delivery System are reminders that contemporary lithium-ion is not yet safe enough for submarines.”

It is important to understand that yesterday’s announcement was just a statement in principle and did not include the signing of a contract. The next few months will be crucial in figuring out the particulars including detailed technical specifications, construction schedules, technology transfer agreements, and what parts of the sub will in fact be build in Australia.

The botched bidding process was an important lesson for Japan. Its defense industry apparently still has a long way to go after lifting a self-imposed weapons export ban in April 2014, to become a major player in the global arms market. Given that the only customer of Japan’s defense industry has been its own government, it is not surprising that Japanese defense contractors lack experience in marketing, technology transfers or that they shrug off opportunities to expand their business abroad.

Franz-Stefan Gady, The Diplomat

Abe's LDP Fears Trump GOP Nomination

Abe - Putin Summit Will Change Little

Abe and Putin at UN Sept 28

Among the various disputes in East Asia that have garnered significant attention over the past two years, the Russia-Japanese dispute over the Kuril Islands ( or Northern Territories as they are known in Japan) has been treated as an almost afterthought. While the potential for conflict over this dispute is minimal, it has served to complicate Russia-Japan relations. Recent actions by Moscow have angered Tokyo and while both sides wish to reach a peaceful resolution, Moscow insists that the status of the islands is not up for debate. With Russian President Putin pursuing a more active foreign policy and nationalism growing in Japan under Prime Minister Abe, a resolution to this dispute does not seem likely in the short term.

Several islands in an island chain north of Hokkaido were developed by Japanese migrants from the 18^th century onward and in 1855, Russian and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimoda granting Japan the four southernmost islands in the chain. Japan maintained control of these islands until the end of World War II when they were occupied by Russia. In 1949, Russia deported all of the Japanese residents on them to Japan. Japan renounced “all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands” in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty though this was not signed by Russia nor did the Japanese recognize the southernmost four islands as part of the Kuril chain. Since then the dispute has remained unresolved and since Japan views Russia as an occupying force, neither countries have signed a peace treaty to end their World War II hostilities.

There have been numerous attempts at settling the dispute but they have always fallen far short of what Tokyo has sought and what Moscow was willing to concede. By 2013, relations between Japan and Russia were improving and the possibility of a resolution being realized was becoming more likely. The 2014 revolution in Ukraine ended this as Russia-Japan relations suddenly thawed. Since then, Russia has taken provocative military steps in the region and has signaled its intent to retain control of the islands.

This summer marked not only the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory against Japan in World War II and the start of its occupation of the northern territories but also a worsening of the situation. In response to Abe’s June visit to Kiev, Ukraine, Moscow announced that the construction of military facilities in the Kurils would speed up. In August, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev in a widely publicized event visited the Kuril Islands on Russia’s state Flag Day. Tokyo immediately lodged a protest against this visit which was one of many made by senior Russian government officials over the summer.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov commented during the World War II anniversary celebrations that the territorial issues between Russia and Japan had been solved 70 years ago. Japan immediately protested these comments with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida calling them “unacceptable” and “unproductive and false”.  Later in September, Kishida travelled to Russia on a three-day visit to discuss the disputed islands.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov though stated that the only topic to be discussed is that of a peace deal, not the status of the territories. Lavrov said, “Moving forward on this issue is possible only after we see clearly Japan’s recognition of historic realities. The work is difficult and the difference in positions is vast”.

In the past there were indications that Russia might eventually hand over the disputed territories to Japan. Now that does not seem likely as Russia is unwilling to portray the issue as one where Japan has a legitimate claim; instead all Russia wants is to reach a peace deal without a change in territory. As far as Moscow is concerned, the islands belong to Russia and if a peace deal is to be reached, Japan must recognize them as part of Russia.

High-level talks will restart October 12 in Moscow for the first time since last January. It is uncertain though what these talks will produce given Russia’s new position on the issue. Furthermore, Russia cannot afford to suddenly backtrack since such a move would be seen as weakness at a time when Moscow is actively involved in Ukraine and Syria. Japan though will not back down either as Tokyo has nothing to lose. For these reasons, this dispute will continue to live on for years to come.

Stephen Brooker

Abe And Cabinet Pass Military Changes

Japan’s cabinet has approved draft laws which would trigger a dramatic shift in security policy, allowing the military to fight overseas for the first time since World War II.

The proposals would allow Japan to defend other countries under attack.

The latest move comes after a revision of US-Japan defense guidelines which expanded cooperation between the two countries as they seek to respond to China’s increasingly assertive military posturing in the region.

It could worsen ties with Beijing, already strained by feuds over the wartime past and disputed territory.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry responded to the news saying:

“We have repeated many times before that due to historical reasons, Asian neighbouring countries and the international community pay a high level of attention to any changes in Japan’s security policy. We hope that Japan can learn the lessons of history, uphold the path of peaceful development, do more real positive things and play a bigger constructive role in this Asian region in which we coexist for peace, stability and joint development.”

The bills are expected to pass parliamentary approval given the ruling bloc’s majority, although opinion polls show citizens are confused and divided over the changes.

Government Audit: Tsunami Disaster Budget Misused

Rikuzentakata (current condition in picture) was a thriving fishing town in the Tohoku region of Japan.  The town of just over 5000 worked in some way with the once booming fishing industry on the Pacific Coast.  Then March 11, 2011 changed everything.  The tsunami on that day destroyed the harbor, the fishing warehouse, the docks, and the buildings in this town.  The next day brought the realization that the population went from 23,000 to 19,000.  3500 people were confirmed dead and 500 are still unaccounted for.

Towns affected by the disaster have been dependent upon money from the Tohoku Disaster Budget to help them rebuild and help those still left homeless.  While many towns have been cleared of debris, they are still waiting for the buildings to be built.

On Friday a government audit found that of 150 billion Yen ($1.5 billion) of the 200 billion Yen ($2 billion) of the Tohoku budget has been misused on unrelated government projects.

From a high speed highway project in Kyushu to an ad campaign in Okinawa money marked explicitly for Tohoku Disaster Relief and Reconstruction was used on completely unrelated projects.

Some 19,000 people were killed or remain missing following the tsunami and earthquake that struck north-east Japan in March 2011.  Currently there are still 35,000 people displaced in the Tohoku region.  Most are waiting to return to their homes in the exclusion zone created because of high radiation due to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.  These residents have been staying in temporary shelters.

The government has passed a number of supplementary budgets to fund reconstruction efforts in affected areas.  The bulk of the money was to be used to aid those in temporary shelters with food, lodging, medical, and dental care.  Some money was also to be used in helping willing people relocate to other areas of Japan.

But a government audit showed money had been used for unrelated projects included on the basis that they could boost national economic revival.  The findings come at a time when questions are being asked about the speed of Japan's reconstruction effort almost five years after the March 11, 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.

Takashi Kubota, mayor of Rikuzentakata, a fishing port where nearly half of the houses were destroyed, said that "not one single new building yet" had been built in the destroyed downtown area.  "In five years, there have basically been no major changes aside from clearing debris." he said.

Speaking in parliament on Friday, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso promised that problems would be addressed.

"There have been many criticisms made about how the budget for reconstruction has been spent," he said. 

"We must listen sincerely to colleagues and citizens calling for the utmost priority to be accorded to disaster area reconstruction. We will properly provide allowances for budget items that are truly needed for the Tohoku region and we will assure that they are spent as necessary." 

Aso refused responsibility saying, "These abuses began before my tenure as Finance Minister and in fact the auditing process is what needs review seeing as these abuses have been ongoing since March 2011."

Aso had been Prime Minister of Japan from March 2008 to September 2009.  Aso was drubbed in an election by the opposition party Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and resigned for the inauguration of Yukio Hatoyama on September 9, 2009.

This is the third audit that has uncovered irregularities with the Tohoku Relief Budget.  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused comment saying, "This is up to the Finance Ministry and auditors to straighten out."  When asked by an AFP reporter if he felt obligation for the irregularities Abe replied, "I do not assign money from the budget."

Dallas Brincrest

Abe Pulling Japan Back To Fascism Quickly

PM Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine on January 1

 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has implemented some liberal policies, such as a push for equality for working women, and he has championed increased immigration. Japan’s society has, in general, become more liberal in recent decades, for example by implementing trial by jury. 

These changes could become largely irrelevant if Abe’s party changes the nation’s constitution in the ways that it wants.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), which is one of the most misnamed political parties in existence, it is neither liberal nor democratic.  It is a right wing party that pushes Japanese nationalism with a flavor of fascism.  The LDP has governed Japan for most of its postwar history, with only the occasional brief interruption. A substantial chunk of the party is philosophically, organizationally and often genetically descended from the political class of Japan’s militarist period. As one might expect, it didn't completely internalize the liberal values that the corporations and people adopted after Japan's loss in World War II. That faction, once a minority, now appears to be dominant within the party.

The LDP is now campaigning to scrap the current constitution, and replace it with a draft constitution. In a booklet explaining the draft, the LDP states that "Several of the current constitutional provisions are based on the Western-European theory of natural human rights; such provisions therefore [need] to be changed." In accordance with this idea, the draft constitution allows the state to restrict speech or expression that is "interfering [with] public interest and public order.” The draft constitution also repeals the clause that prohibits the state from granting “political authority” to Shinto and the Emperor as "God and Ruler" in other words, abandoning the separation of church and state.

Even worse, the draft constitution adds six new “obligations” that it commands the citizenry to follow. Some of these, such as the obligation to “uphold the Constitution” and help family members, are vague and benign. A third, which requires people to “respect the national anthem and flag.” Echoing the sentiments of every dictator in history.

But the other three “obligations” are an obvious move toward illiberalism and autocracy. These state:

“The people must be conscious of the fact that there are responsibilities and obligations in compensation for freedom and rights.”

“The people must comply with the public interest and public order.”

“The people must obey commands from the State or the subordinate offices thereof in a state of emergency.”

The provision for a “state of emergency” echoes the justification for crackdowns used by many Middle Eastern dictators. These are completely out of line with democracy.

Unfortunately, the deeply illiberal nature of this draft constitution has largely been ignored by Japanese media for fear of losing the coveted place the outlets hold in interviews of government officials or losing membership in the National Press Club, which by the way credentials "official" news outlets and was a creation of past LDP Prime Minister Junichi Koizumi in 2002. Citizens in Japan are only exposed to this about constitutional change: the revision of Article 9 of the current constitution, which forbids Japan from having a military.

It is true that the LDP draft constitution does repeal Article 9. And it is true that repealing Article 9 is a big reason why Abe wants constitutional change. But focusing on demilitarization is a dangerous distraction.

Repealing Article 9 is a sensible thing to do. Japan already has a military (called a “Self-Defense Force”), and interprets the demilitarization clause so loosely that it’s unlikely that repealing Article 9 would change much. It is very doubtful that Japan would invade other countries if the constitution were rewritten. Japan might as well call its army an army.

But the focus on the military issue has drawn attention (especially China, South Korea, and Russia) away from the severe blow that the draft constitution would deal to the freedom of the Japanese people.

Japan’s people, of course, don’t want to live in an illiberal state. More than 80 percent of Japanese people opposed a recent “government secrets” law passed by Abe’s government. And they also oppose the LDPs attempt to ease the procedures for constitutional revision. Japanese people have grown extremely fond of the freedom they have enjoyed in the past seven decades.

The risk is that the Japanese people might be tricked into signing away their own freedoms. Like Japanese journalists, they may focus too much on the repeal of Article 9, and ignore the replacement of human rights with "obligations." It doesn't help that Japan’s opposition parties are weak, divided and mostly incompetent, while Abe’s government provides the best hope for resuscitating the economy.

The  real danger in this new constitution. First, it may be part of a wider LDP effort to crack down on civil society, which has become more obstreperous in the wake of poor economic performance and the Fukushima nuclear accident. The government secrets law and other crackdowns on press freedom are a worrying sign -- Japan has already slipped from 10th in Reporters Without Borders’ global press freedom ranking in 2010 to 61st in 2015.

 

Second, adopting the LDP’s draft could be an international relations disaster. If Japan opts for the kind of illiberal democracy that is currently the fashion in Turkey and Hungary, it could weaken the country’s regional appeal as an alternative to China’s repressive state. It could also lead to the weakening of the U.S.-Japan alliance -- without the glue of shared values holding the alliance together, the U.S. might be tempted to adopt a more neutral posture between an illiberal China and a mostly illiberal Japan.

The optimal solution would be for Japan to repeal Article 9 of its constitution while leaving the rest untouched. But politically, that seems to be an impossible trick to pull off -- any measure that would allow the LDP to change Article 9 would also open the door for the authoritarian “obligations” and the weakening of human rights. The best realistic solution is for Japan to delay rewriting its flawed constitution at all, and wait for a time when the people in power are not still mentally living in the 1940s.

Japan is at a critical juncture in its history. It has the potential to become a more liberal society, or a much less liberal one. The former choice is both the wise and the moral choice.

Bloomberg