Pressure grows on Abe; opposition boycott Diet debates

Hang in there Abe... you've held Japan together and moved the country further forward than any other PM for the last 30 years.

Aso, the self-taught elementary pupil, helped Abe successfully reduced Japan's GDP by $1 trillion, from 2012 to 2016. There is no term limit for Aso, he could serve 100 years if he can live that long. Now, he wants to stay to investigate the scandal. Is it an international joke or a collusion ?

Doctoring public documents is an act that shakes the foundation of democracy," said the Asahi Shimbun.

It should be considered a criminal act. Abe and Aso should both AT LEAST be suspended from duty. Anything else is a slap in face of democracy.

There is no term limit for Aso, he could serve 100 years if he can live that long.  or until the J public prefer another candidate they think can do a better job, his job is only guaranteed if the J voting public wish it.

Key fact to ascertain is whether any quid pro quo took place , at any level , to influence the land deal to gain wrongful advantage .

wtfjapan, LDP must return justice to people by denouncing Abe and Aso. LDP must clear its name that they are not all Abe's accomplices.

I'm completely against Abe, but the opposition is grasping at straws here. Calling for his resignation on such flimsy evidence is actually damaging the opposition in my view

Before supporting those 2 top leaders involved in this scandal (or more). Please understand: The framework of Japanese politics is a system of three powers to be checked by the three powers of the National Assembly (legislature), the Cabinet (administrative authority), and the Supreme Court (the Judicial Office). Why the legislature too strong? Wrong democracy?

sympathy-seeking trip to the hospital in 3...2...1...

Oops, not exactly legislature but administrative authority.

Alexandre T. Ishii, Japan is just a tribe, in disguise of democracy. The nation is controlled by a few. Look at Abe and his family and you will understand why he wants to eliminate peace in constitution.

Come on the whole thing is shady to say the least. PMs wife involved then deleted from the documents as were 6 other serving members of the government, public servents, all members of Nippon Kaigi or associated to the geriatric club. A suicide, leaving a note that the government won't let public, a sudden resignation of the top official of the finance ministry, fabricated documents. Originally said destroyed. The schools owners held in jail for 9 months no trial. I will resign if my wife or I are involved. The man in charge of the finance ministry denied any knowledge and blames dead people or he no longer works for us. And the year of bare faced lies.

Great leaders.

Abe has my support. His positive contributions to the nation and economy have far outweighed any negative outcomes, so don't even really care about this minor land sale issue to be completely honest. I would say every business in Japan probably thinks the same

Darmstadt, do you really understand what you are talking ? This is an impeachable offense, a lie to public and parliament by PM, a contempt of court to say least, a criminal act by all international benchmarks.

@Darmstadt, I, too believe so! Well said!!

@Akie: Yes I understand what I am saying. We have far worse corruption scandals in politics back in Germany, yet no one resigns or even apologises, that's how it is.

This is such a minor issue I am surprised at why so many people even care about it unless for ulterior motives, which seems likely from all the emotional anti-Abe comments.

Also, if you think lying to the public or parliament is an "impeachable offense", I think you might have to go and impeach every politician on Earth to be honest. Also, if it were really an impeachable offense, impeach him then. If it's really a "criminal act" like you say, indict him on criminal charges then. Good luck

Hang in there Abe... you've held Japan together and moved the country further forward than any other PM for the last 30 years.

That's actually a pretty fair statement. Certainly Japanese politics for the last 20 years has been dire up until Abe's current run.

Still, if he has personally overseen something dodgy happening then it will eventually come out.

It will be a question of how intense his involvement was in that process. So far his wife looks more complicit than he does. Can the LDP come up with a viable alternative candidate?

I suspect regardless of what happens the present path will be maintained in terms of Japans outlook on the world. The geo-political realities are what they are and Japan is on the right path anyway. The growth in the economy, albeit reasonably timid is a lot better anything Japan has achieved in recent memory.

People saying Abe is a Nippon Kaigi nationalist are correct, but hey you could get an awful lot worse in terms of Japanese nationalists, that's for sure. Abe is nationalist lite which is whats good about him.

Abe is nationalist lite which is whats good about him.

Abe, and more importantly, his cronies, are just in hibernation - waiting for their chance to show their true colors.

Unfortunately the climate is ripe for this type of hateful person the world over right now. Nationalism is on the rise. People on the right ignore or fail to see what happened the last time nationalist sentiments took control of the world. Slap me sideways how people on the right think their methods will bring better times. They never learn, but everyone else pays.

After it all goes down, they'll make comments how they were against it all and tried to warn people what would happen...

Abe, and more importantly, his cronies, are just in hibernation - waiting for their chance to show their true colors.

Unfortunately the climate is ripe for this type of hateful person the world over right now. Nationalism is on the rise. People on the right ignore or fail to see what happened the last time nationalist sentiments took control of the world. Slap me sideways how people on the right think their methods will bring better times. They never learn, but everyone else pays.

After it all goes down, they'll make comments how they were against it all and tried to warn people what would happen...

I don't see any Nazi's in European or the U.S government. What I do see are politicians reflecting the popular will of the people on immigration reform. Immigration is bordering on out of control in some places. There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep immigration numbers moderate so you can actually cope with it.

Even in Australian media over the last 2 weeks there has been a huge upswing on discussing the population question. Australia has the highest immigrate rate in the developed world (not talking raw numbers, talking % rate to population) and many Australians are saying enough is enough. Even Bob Carr, who I have accused of being a CCP fanboy in the past actually argued for a 50% cut to immigration last night.

I happen to believe a "Nationalist lite" PM or President is a good thing. You get somebody that promotes the culture, the talks it up, you get somebody dedicated to making the country better, hopefully. And at the same time you avoid the massive pitfall of a full on nationalist, ie warmongering. Abe is not a warmonger and to say different is really just dumb.

Lets look at Abe's record shall we:

1.5% - 2% growth rate in sight. Keep in mind the best Japan has achieved in the last 40 years was 3.2% in 1990 and the last 20 have been terrible.

Managing to slowly but surely bolster the SDF without inflaming any tensions with China and still managing to deter China's desire on the Senkaku islands. Currently investigating the possibility of F35's on their helicopter carriers. Despite some low key rhetoric from China, nobody has spoken loudly about the threat from "Imperial Japan" which is more than you can say about China....

Big export $ increases to China and elsewhere and gradually rebuilding a decent Japan-China relationship while still maintaining their U.S alliance and getting stronger and better defense relationships with Australia, U.K etc.

Managed to play a steady hand with North Korea while be very vocal that pressure is to be maintained. He has never backed down on that for a moment and that is absolutely in Japans interest. Japan is not served well by a nuclear armed rogue North Korea.

Steady relations, if not brilliant with South Korea, but the South Koreans are being dogmatic and stubborn on the comfort women issue so there is not a lot he can do.

Building a great relationship with India, which will be the next global superpower. Just a matter of time. Japanese companies are going to do very well out of that relationship. Fast rail links etc

Successful resurrection of the TPP. Abe and I would add Australia are directly responsible for that and it puts Japan in a great position in the region.

Mario at the London Olympics. Whats not to like about that? ;)

Overall, he has been the best PM in ages and I really cant see how anybody could argue differently.

Overall, he has been the best PM in ages and I really cant see how anybody could argue differently.

I liked Koizumi more.

I've always been on the fence about Abe. Overall, I don't agree with a lot of his policies, but that said, he's been pretty effective, and after the rotating door of useless PMs that came after Koizumi (which we cannot forget, Abe was one of), having a stronger leader who has been active was much better for the country.

I don't think he's going to survive this one though. I think his leadership jumped from confident to overconfident, and he started to take advantage of the system. It's too bad, but if it does turn out to be the end for him, it won't be that surprising to me.

Why are people so surprised, corruption is a norm in dictatorships. With a single ruling party from God knows when it is more like a dictatorship than democracy. I know Japanese people will shout at this issue but if you vote today they will elect Abe again. For them trying anything new is too frightening.

For them trying anything new is too frightening.

They did it in 2009 - and the alternative ended up to essentially be the same as the original, but without the competence that comes from experience.

I think that it's mostly antipathy with the Japanese. They figure the current guys suck, but at least they keep things rolling along. The alternative would likely suck, but they may not even be able to keep things rolling along well.

His support is down to 44%? Yeah there's no chance he's resigning. His economic and foreign policies have been very successful so I suspect his support will be back to around 50% within the month. Emotionally lashing out at Abe on every tiny misstep does nothing for the opposition and their supporters either, showing a lack of rational thinking when they should be saving up and striking at the best times rather than knee jerking

His economic and foreign policies have been very successful

They have been moderately successful in the past year, and I'm doubtful it's because of Abe's unimaginative policies anyway. Wages are still stagnant, municipailties still broke, women as underused as ever, debt climbing, and I'm not seeing people really feeling confident enough that they've turned the corner yet. This recovery is built on very fragile ground that Abenomics hasn't done much to fix.

Emotionally lashing out at Abe on every tiny misstep

This isn't a tiny misstep for many. It's a potential gross misuse of power amid a cacophony of lies & deceit. People have a right to want to know what the hell is going on.

showing a lack of rational thinking

Rationality would be that people demand the highest standards from their elected officials instead of saying "Well you did well with ABC so we'll forgive you for lying about XYZ"

Policies I disagree with are his intentions to change the constitution to allow for war - I am a strong believer in the self-defense status of Japan. I think having a very powerful self-defense force makes sense, and I'm all for that. But I don't feel that force should be an offensive force, which Abe wants to change.

I disagree with the secrecy laws that were put into place, as they were not instituted with a proper set of checks and balances, and my feeling overall from what I know about Japan and its government, is that this means its only a matter of time until someone abuses it.

I do respect that he's been out there hustling for five years now, and while I don't think he's been as effectual as I'd like, he's kept things moving along pretty well, and the economy is pretty good. I also respect that he's leading a mess of leadership, in a mess of a system, and has managed to get anything done within this.

Overall I can't say that there are any policies of his that I have loved, but he's not horrible. He's not even that bad in my mind. Just so-so.

Matt Hartwell - almost everything "good" you referred to was international - the arena where Abe is bending over backwards to paint himself as some kind of diplomatic saviour. Chummy Yen will certainly open doors.

Domestically you said - "1.5% - 2% growth rate in sight.",  meaning not achieved and highly debatable if it will, and if it does so what. Please explain the benefits for the populace at large - at large that is, and not some watery Keynesian plop or alternative trickle down godsend. There is no miracle light to be switched on for millions and millions of people outside of roppongi and ginza.

Many, many people are really hurting in this country as a result of decades of ldp incompetence. Suddenly along comes Abe, who has a vision for the country in the mould of his grandfather Kishi (Abe has written / spoken extensively about it) , a man who despised the ordinary folks. His agenda is to stay in power as long as it takes to put his grandfather's wishes into law.

And why on earth did you bring up immigration in Europe or Aust as a relevant point to this discussion. Off beam.

And your final take "..Mario at the London Olympics. Whats not to like about that? ;)" just about sums it all up.

Mario was at the Rio olympics as I recall, not London and as a cringeworthy populist moment, there are few modern parallels.

tt HartwellToday  03:19 pm JST

Lets look at Abe's record shall we:

1.5% - 2% growth rate in sight. Keep in mind the best Japan has achieved in the last 40 years was 3.2% in 1990 and the last 20 have been terrible.

> Managing to slowly but surely bolster the SDF without inflaming any tensions with China and still managing to deter China's desire on the Senkaku islands. Currently investigating the possibility of F35's on their helicopter carriers. Despite some low key rhetoric from China, nobody has spoken loudly about the threat from "Imperial Japan" which is more than you can say about China....

> Big export $ increases to China and elsewhere and gradually rebuilding a decent Japan-China relationship while still maintaining their U.S alliance and getting stronger and better defense relationships with Australia, U.K etc.

> Managed to play a steady hand with North Korea while be very vocal that pressure is to be maintained. He has never backed down on that for a moment and that is absolutely in Japans interest. Japan is not served well by a nuclear armed rogue North Korea.

> Steady relations, if not brilliant with South Korea, but the South Koreans are being dogmatic and stubborn on the comfort women issue so there is not a lot he can do.

> Building a great relationship with India, which will be the next global superpower. Just a matter of time. Japanese companies are going to do very well out of that relationship. Fast rail links etc

> Successful resurrection of the TPP. Abe and I would add Australia are directly responsible for that and it puts Japan in a great position in the region.

> Mario at the London Olympics. Whats not to like about that? ;)#

Ummm... Mario? Not a fan, I'm afraid.

Overall, he has been the best PM in ages and I really cant see how anybody could argue differently.

Well, you've certainly done a far better job of defending him that most manage - "he's done a good job... look how bad things were before... the opposition do nothing but criticise..." is usually about it. But after all that, it still doesn't really feel as if things are much better. The LDP are dragging their heels on electoral reform, their labour reforms are a joke, and there is no indication at all that they have really had any success in tackling the problems of moribund domestic spending, the aging population, the falling birthrate, the skyrocketing deficit or salaries flatlining. Furthermore this scandal just shows the LDP and their friends are as sleazy as they ever were. If the opposition were capable of getting their act together and fielding really effective candidates in Lower House elections, or there were a smart, charismatic LDP politician who stood against him in the next party leadership election, the "best PM in ages" would be history.

browny and simon,

Agree with the 2 of you 100%

sorry- and ClippetyClop

Mario was at the Rio olympics

Correct.

It’s not a democracy with only one party present

It’s not a democracy with only one party present

Correct. Japan has 9 parties + independents so they are a democracy. A state with one party? North Korea and China

I don't know why many people support Abe just because of others short-time govern administration (he also was one of them) and he stayed long time doing all those tricky ways to stay without resigning himself...Is it important to stay long to prove a good govt? Anybody of LDP can replace him, so I can imagine how much LDP and Nippon Kaigi members of this same political party invoke so much to Abe presence to stay. I hope Japan not going wrong ways to increase military power to support invading other countries USA wants and depending so tightly his Abenomics meaning Abenomix of Japan future poverty, to say, any wealthy country will be suffering poverty without people reactions, thanks God I can see some in Japan. Some extreme rightists and nationalists insist Japan will survive...Hmm, how long? So much money not controlled to politicians and internal debts? C'mon, seriously to be sick to think few years later. Well, I'll never forget this time when it will come that way.

Matt Hartwell-

Thanks for acknowledging that.

This is front page news in the Japanese language press. To use the vernacular, Abe's and Aso's pants are on fire. This is not only a scandal but a big scandal if you have read all about it. ( Why is this relegated to the margins in JT?) The opposition boycott is but one aspect of the response to this scandal. People are out on the streets demanding Abe's resignation. That the latter has been reported on NHK may mean that the LDP will turn against Abe.

Where's Kim when you need a good distraction?