Japan in 2005: Koizumi's finest hour

Asian Survey

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 22-36

  Hiwatari, Nobuhiro ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY; POLITICAL ORGANIZATION; POLITICAL REFORM;

ASIA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; JAPAN;

EID: 33646817075     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2006.46.1.22     Document Type: Article

References (7)

1. Japanese government officials say they only check to see if the textbooks match the guidelines. The guidelines in fact contain a "neighboring country clause" that urges special consideration for international understanding and cooperation. On the other hand, the government does require the textbooks to claim Dokdo/Takeshima as Japanese territory. I thank Greg Noble for cautioning me on this point.
2. Koizumi's view can be seen at .
3. Indeed, Koizumi and other leaders made statements portraying Yasukuni as a matter of personal belief beyond the interference of foreign governments.
4. Around 20 (16 by official count and 23 by the support group's) Japanese citizens were kidnapped by North Korean operatives, presumably for intelligence personnel training, between 1963 and 1983. During Koizumi's first visit to Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il expressed regrets for the incidents, allowed the return of five abductees, and claimed the rest had died. Public furor erupted when the death certificates appeared to have been forged and the alleged ashes of an abductee (returned during Koizumi's second visit) turned out during DNA testing to be those of two different people. The Japanese government and people believe most of the abductees are alive and have demanded their immediate return.
5. The persuasion of undecided members on close votes has always been a characteristic of the U.S. Congress. See, for instance, Keith Krebiel, "Cosponsors and Wafflers from A to Z," American Journal of Political Science 39 (4), pp. 906-23
6. and Sarah A Binder et al., "Uncovering the Hidden Effects of Party," Journal of Politics 61 (3), pp. 815-31.
7. When asked about postal privatization, 100% of the LDP and Komeito candidates replied positive (up from 39% and 74% from the 2003 survey), while 99.6% (from 40%) of the DPJ candidates and 92.3% of the rebels replied negative. Asahi Shimbun, August 29, 2005 (evening edition).