Politics
Ida Torres on Jun 18 2013
Japanese cabinet members see the
Group of Eight stance on Japan's economic stimulus policies as a vote of confidence that "
Abenomics" is keeping the country on the right track. "Japan's growth will be supported by its near-term fiscal stimulus, bold monetary policy and recently announced strategy for promoting private investment," says a statement from the G8, which will be part of the final communique at the summit in Northern Ireland.
Despite Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's vow to make women a more integral part of Japan's society seems to be undermined by his very own party, the Liberal Democratic Party. While Abe called for women to fill up 30% of senior positions in
all aspects of society by 2020, the LDP only has 9 women out of 79 candidates in the upcoming Upper House elections in July, a very lowly 11%.
The
stock market in Japan has entered some turbulence after capturing the world’s attention with the dramatic rise since last November. The mood in Japan until recently has been that of optimism and a sense of long-waited recovery from the twenty-year recession. Now, many in Japan began to voice their concerns and the beginning of the end. So how should we assess the situation?
Japan's Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe says he is aiming to get the support of opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Party of Japan, in his plan to support his proposed amendments for the Constitution after the Upper House elections next month. He is trying to persuade two-thirds majorities of both the Upper and Lower House members in order to have the amendments approved and ratified.
A public survey in early June by Japan's Jiji Press reveals that the public support for Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has dropped to 57.4%, the second consecutive month of decline and the first time since Abe was elected in December that the approval rating has been below 60%. Jiji Press' survey indicates that this is a decline of 2.8 point from the month of May, while other outlets, including the Nikkei business daily, determined that Abe's support rating
was around 68% last month.
In his first summit with the Visegrad Group of the European Union - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed the country's
nuclear technology as a viable export to the four Central European nations. He told reporters that he "stressed the necessity of strengthening cooperation, especially in the area of energy policy."
The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has approved a white paper on the government's energy policy for fiscal 2012 it was revealed on Friday, which has raised questions to many concerning the future of Japan with regard to
nuclear power. It actually promotes the use of nuclear energy and even plans to reactivate Japan’s 48 currently idled reactors. This move is dismissing the previous administration’s aim to go zero-nuclear by the 2030s.
Jeffrey Bader, former senior adviser for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, criticized Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese political leaders for their controversial views on history that have strained their relations with neighboring Asian countries. He also said that the
U.S. government could be more critical of Japan if they do revise their past statements and apologies for wartime crimes.
In a phone call on Wednesday, US President
Barack Obama and Japan's Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe discussed several issues, including the stability of East Asia despite the territorial disputes between the countries in the region. This comes after Obama's meeting
over the weekend with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A meeting between Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and British Prime Minister
David Cameron has been arranged on the sidelines of the G8 Summit at the County of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland next week. According to a government source, an agreement between Japan and the United Kingdom will create a defense intelligence-sharing pact. Other issues concerning both nations will also be in the table when the two prime ministers meet.
