Simon Foston comments

Tim SullivanOct. 11  09:38 pm JST

I hope Takaichi gets another chance -- she would be a brilliant PM.

She's never had a career outside of politics and hasn't achieved much in it except for getting ahead by being a woman who's made herself useful to LDP bigots by parroting their mysogynistic views, showing that they can go on being bigots because there are women who agree with them. She looks more like an overpaid waste of skin to me.

kurisupisuToday  06:52 am JST

Japan is a little bit misogynistic but so what?

Everyone should just accept that and do nothing about it?

grundToday  10:25 am JST

If only all these opposition parties could join together to form a strong, stable party that would actually have a chance in the election.

It would be a start if people voted for anyone they could except the LDP. If no party could form a majority they would all have to start finding some common ground to get anything done.

Nobuyuki Baba, head of the second-largest opposition party, the Japan Innovation Party, said at a press conference, "We oppose the dissolution, but we will fight by asking the public which party is best suited to reform politics in the wake of the funds scandal."

None of them. It shouldn't be a partisan issue. Any Diet member should be able to propose reforms and every other Diet member should be free to vote for or against them based on their own convictions, rather than towing a party line.

Realistically speaking, the public won't bother with parties that can't win outright majorities by themselves.

"Our party is not an authoritarian dictatorship." He stated, "Just because I became the party president, it doesn't mean that everything I said during the party leadership election can be implemented. That is not how a democratic party operates. We must steadily engage in discussions within the party and reach a consensus."

If that's how they decide everything I'm not sure what they bother having a leader for.

danToday  09:30 am JST

The officers who fabricated the evidence if still alive should be jailed.

That's the thing - there's maybe no one still alive to prosecute.

Geeter MckluskieToday  12:53 pm JST

Remarkable that people keep thumbing down my comment regarding evidence of police tampering...while neglecting to provide the "evidence of tampering" details that I asked for. "The court said so" is not evidence.

I imagine the court said so after thoroughly going over all the available details and evidence. Can you provide evidence that exonerates the police? They clearly can't or else they surely would.

I wonder what would happen in any other organisation if ¥800,000 wasn't properly accounted for.

Abe234Today  12:53 am JST

"found no consensus on whether to unify their candidates."

And thats why you haven't been in power for decades.

No, it really isn't. Of course it doesn't help but finding consensus is what parties need to do when they're trying to form a coalition government, and if they could all really find a consensus they'd all join the same party. They haven't been in power for decades because they can't outspend the LDP in hideously expensive election campaigns and because the vote-value disparity between urban and rural areas gives the LDP an inherent advantage in their rural strongholds.

Ivan MartinezOct. 5  06:25 pm JST

Where are the opposition parties when we need them the most?

Japan only needs one major opposition party. The CDP should quit all this co-operating with other parties nonsense and try to get other opposition politicians to defect to them. Unfortunately they also need more financial backing so they should be trying to convince business owners to stop giving money to the LDP and donate to them instead.

WoodyLeeToday  10:18 am JST

An Apartheid doesn't have the right to defend itself. no different than the failed Apartheid in South Africa.

If its friends and allies can bankroll the election campaigns of enough American politicians it evidently does. Money placed in the 'right' hands can buy anything.

kurisupisuToday  09:42 am JST

An Italian could demand that an British person in present-day UK would have to give up their house to them.Their ancestors once lived there right?

Well, exactly. The world might as well let Italy invade England because it was a Roman province for almost four centuries.

stormcrowToday  07:16 am JST

How can anyone celebrate what those animals did on October 7th?!

Do you really think that's what they're doing?

Japan's opposition party leaders have agreed to work toward wresting the ruling bloc of their majority control of the powerful lower house as the country gears up for an election in late October, but found no consensus on whether to unify their candidates.

What a stupid idea. If no one party can field a candidate for every one of the LDP's they might as well not bother.

bass4funkToday  07:47 am JST

What the hell is this **traitor** doing even walking around and talking trash like he always does?

Because he can, because people are voting for him and wanting him back in the White House,

Unless they're registered to vote in swing states what they want doesn't matter. I presume you're not voting in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona or Michigan either. Are you? If not your opinion matters just about as much as a European person's.

Mr KiplingToday  11:27 am JST

The feudal mindset of supporting hereditary leaders is still strong in the provinces where the elections are decided.

It's no accident that those areas have twice as many Diet seats as the big cities

toto_kibokoToday  09:52 am JST

Why is it everytime the opposition is mentioned, it is brushed away as if it does not exist?

It might as well not exist. They're not necessarily bad people with bad ideas, but they've been completely marginalised by the LDP. The opposition is fragmented into small parties that will never win majorities by themselves so they're always talking about cooperating with the other parties, which means you can't rely in anything they say about policies because they would have to change or compromise on them to get into coalition governments. The cost of running in elections in prohibitively high and unlike the LDP they don't get much corporate backing, so they daren't risk wasting millions of yen on campaigns against LDP incumbents that they have little chance of beating. For instance, Ishiba has never faced a CDP opponent in an election even though they're supposedly the main opposition party.

Brian NichollsToday  12:29 pm JST

With Japan facing massive challenges from climate change, an ageing population and regional instability, the LDP continues to do little more than tinker around the edges of the problems.

I think the status quo suits the LDP too well for them to really want to change very much. None of these problems have a lot to do with their reelection prospects, so why worry about them too much?

dagonToday  06:51 am JST

"Japan's new ruling party chief Shigeru Ishiba may see an initial bump in public support following Friday's presidential election victory,"

Ishiba was 'elected to a presidency'?

Presidency of a political party. Nothing unusual about that.

Aaron WrightToday  06:34 am JST

Aso, Motegi, and Suga — the three true powerbrokers in the Japanese government, as indicated in the above two paragraphs.

Apparently Aso backed Taro Kono while Suga was backing Shinjiro Koizumi, so they might not be that influential any more. Motegi was a candidate and he only got 47 votes in the first round.

quercetumSep. 28  11:16 am JST

Harumi Yoshida of the CDP didn't. She came from an ordinary background, worked in London for 3 years in the financial sector and when she came back to Japan she beat an LDP incumbent who had been re-elected ten times.

My impression from watching Tiko Tok and YouTube short videos posted by Japanese in Japanese and from TV panel discussions is that Takaichi seems to have a positive reputation...

Well, were the videos and TV programmes completely unbiased, do you think?

... and high expectations from her supporters, who to me seem like ordinary Japanese and not the speaker blaring black van types.

That's what I would expect of supporters. Besides, what's to distinguish the black van types from ordinary Japanese when they're not actually in the black vans? I'm sure they don't spend all their time wearing army gear and shouting slogans.

Donald Trump on Friday accused Google of showing only "bad stories" about him and vowed have the tech giant prosecuted if he gets back in the White House.

There are only bad stories to show.

quercetumToday  08:11 am JST

"being a useful female mouthpiece for bigots and sexists in the LDP, never achieved anything in any of her ministerial portfolios, associated with neo-nazis and then lied about it"

Perhaps as a female politician that’s what you gave to go through to first get your foot in the door?

Harumi Yoshida of the CDP didn't. She came from an ordinary background, worked in London for 3 years in the financial sector and when she came back to Japan she beat an LDP incumbent who had been re-elected ten times.

Agent_NeoSep. 26  09:25 pm JST

In what ways are the Social Democratic Party's Tsujimoto, who has always said that the abduction of Japanese citizens is impossible,

Successive LDP administrations turned a blind eye to that when they were trying to get along better with the North Koreans.

and the opposition parties, who failed to respond properly to the Great East Japan Earthquake and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant to meltdown, better than the LDP?

The energy company was found to have failed to meet safety requirements or plan for such a disaster. That would have been while the LDP were still in charge.

The fact is, these crises you bleat so piously about were all made worse by the abject failure of the LDP to do anything about them for decades.

There's been a lot of talk about the LDP's corruption, tax evasion, and collusion with the Unification Church, but will it kill Japanese people?

That makes it okay then?

That's why no one supports the opposition parties.

Most Japanese people don't actually support the LDP. Don't know if you'd noticed.

rcchSep. 27  11:25 pm JST

*Japan (or should I say the LDP) wasted a golden opportunity today—Sanae Takaichi was more than competent and popular (much more popular than Ishiba, which makes it all the more tragic) enough to be the first female PM;*

To me she looks like a career politician who never had a job outside of politics, got ahead by being a useful female mouthpiece for bigots and sexists in the LDP, never achieved anything in any of her ministerial portfolios, associated with neo-nazis and then lied about it, and pledged to resign if leaked memos about her plans to muzzle the media were proved to be genuine and then weasled her way out of resiging when they were.

I think Japan dodged a bullet.

Fighto!

Today 04:22 pm JST

Well, that's really up to the opposition to get their act together, present attractive, different, policy and campaign well. Can't just blame the LDP, they need to look inwards.

I can certainly blame the LDP for doing nothing about the urban/rural vote value disparity, the high cost of running as an election candidate or loopholes in the political funding laws that let politicians basically pocket personal donations, all of which work to the LDP's favour and keep the opposition weak.

Fighto!

Today 03:05 pm JST

Realistically, Takaichi or Ishiba will almost certainly thump the opposition in the upcoming general election.

That's not saying a whole lot. I a fair and evenly-balanced contest the LDP would stand no chance against any credible, competent opposition party.

Ricky Kaminski13Today  10:28 am JST

Simon, sounds like low resolution thinking and branding.

I daresay it does if you're a fan.

May as well stamp her with a ‘far right’ badge while you’re at it mate,

Sure, why not.

you know the convenient shortcut to nuanced thinking.

I've been aware of Takaichi for a while and I see very little that's nuanced about her at all.

Intend to reserve judgement until we get to see what she can do.

She's hardly a political newbie. She's had ample opportunities to show us what she can do.

If she is being branded by the mob so early it means she has something.

What does she have?

Nippon Kaigi? Please.

You are saying she not involved, or that it's much less of a far-right cabal than we all think?

Dango bongToday  07:34 am JST

-Whomever the L+DP elects will likely get beat by Noda

How do you figure that out?

Ricky Kaminski13Sep. 26  08:09 pm JST

Simon, good points. She seems though, very comfortable in her own skin, has a trajectory...

Sociopaths and narcissists can come across that way.

and would be the first female leader to get there through pure grit. Don’t get the feeling that she is anyone’s puppet let’s put it that way.

She's a member of Nippon Kaigi. Draw your own conclusions from that.

...principles, sorry, I suppose she'd make quite a good party leader. It would certainly show up what the rest of them are like.