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Monday in Washington, November 16, 2015

November 15, 2015, 6:59 pm
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6th ANNUAL GLOBAL SECURITY FORUM. 11/16, 8:00am-3:30pm. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: John O. Brennan, Director, CIA; Thomas Pickering, Former Ambassador to UN, Russian Federation, India, Israel, and Jordan; Michael Vickers, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, CSIS, Christopher Johnson, Senior Adviser, Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS; Kathleen Hicks, Senior Vice President, Henry A. Kissinger Chair, Director, International Security Program (ISP), CSIS; Denis Bovin, Senior Advisor, Evercore Partners; William Lynn, CEO, Finmeccanica North America and DRS Technologies, Vago Muradian, Editor, Defense News; Eric Schwartz, Dean, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota; Tina Jonas, Former Undersecretary of Defense, Senior Adviser, ISP, CSIS; Steve Kosiak, Former Associate Director for Defense and International Affairs, Office of Management and Budget; Charlene Barshefsky, Former U.S. Trade Representative, Senior International Partner, WilmerHale; Scott Miller, Senior Adviser, Scholl Chair in International Business, CSIS; Michael Cohen, Head of Energy Commodities Research, Barclays; Michelle Patron, Former Senior Director for Energy and Climate, NSC; Adam Sieminski, Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Michael Wittner, Managing Director, Global Head, Oil Market Research, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking; Jason Cone, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières, USA; Rebecca Hersman, Director, Project on Nuclear Issues, Senior Adviser, ISP, CSIS; Robert Mardini, Regional Director for Middle East, Red Cross; Derek Chollet, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Counselor, Senior Advisor, Security and Defense Policy, German Marshall Fund; Paula Dobriansky, Former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard University; Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow, AEI; Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Fellow, ISP, New America; Henry Kissinger, Former Secretary of State and NSA; John Hamre, President and CEO, CSIS; Moderators: Olga Oliker, Senior Adviser, Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS; Andrew Hunter, Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, Senior Fellow, ISP, CSIS; Todd Harrison, Director, Defense Budget Analysis, Senior Fellow, ISP, CSIS; Ernie Bower, Senior Adviser, Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asian Studies, CSIS; Sarah Ladislaw, Director, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS; Frank Verrastro, Senior Vice President, James R. Schlesinger Chair for Energy & Geopolitics, CSIS; Steve Morrison, Senior Vice President, Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS.

U.S.-CHINA ENERGY COOPERATION: RISKS, OPPORTUNITIES, AND SOLUTIONS. 11/16, 9:00am-5:15pm, Lunch, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Hudson Institue. Speakers: Yossie Hollander, Co-Founder, Fuel Freedom Foundation; Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow and Director for Chinese Strategy, Hudson; Liu Qiang, Secretary-General, Global Forum on Energy Security; Fuqiang Yang, Senior Advisor on Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Natural Resources Defense Council’s China Program; Damien Ma, Fellow, Paulsen Institute; Gal Luft, Co-Director, Institute for Analysis of Global Security; J.J. Fletcher, Director, U.S.-China Energy Center & Natural Resource Analysis Center, West Virginia University; Anne Korin, Co-Director, Institute for Analysis of Global Security; David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University; Jeremy Carl, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Arthur Herman, Senior Fellow, Hudson.

PROSPECTS FOR JAPAN-RUSSIA RELATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE US-JAPAN ALLIANCE. 11/16, 9:15am-5:30pm. Sponsors: Sasakawa USA, Carnegie. Speakers: Dennis Blair, Chairman, CEO, Sasakawa USA; Douglas H. Paal, Vice President, Carnegie; Kazuhiko Togo, Director, Institute for World Affairs, Kyoto Sangyo University; Alexander Nikolaevich Panov, Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MSIIR); Yasuhiro Izumikawa, Professor, Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University; Vasili Kashin, Senior Analyst, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies; Georgy Toloraya, Director, Asia Strategy Center, Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences; Eugene Rumer, Director, Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie; Edward Chow, Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS; Alexander Gabuev, Senior Associate, Chair, Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program, Carnegie Moscow Center; Irina Timonina, Professor, Institute of Business Studies, Moscow; Taisuke Abiru, Research Fellow, Tokyo Foundation; Frank Jannuzi, President, CEO, Mansfield Foundation; Narushige Michishita, Director, Security and International Studies Program, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies; Dmitry Streltsov, Director of Japan Studies, MSSIR; Moderators: Jeffrey Hornung, Fellow, Security and Foreign Affairs Program, Sasakawa USA; Daniel Bob, Senior Fellow, Sasakawa USA; James L. Schoff, Senior Associate, Asia Program, Carnegie.

EUROPE'S ORPHAN: THE FUTURE OF THE EURO AND THE POLITICS OF DEBT. 11/16, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Speaker: Martin Sandbu, Economics Leader Writer, Financial Times.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE DEBATE OVER AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY? 11/16, 4:30pm. Sponsor: Institute of World Politics (IWP). Speaker: Carnes Lord, Professor of Strategic Leadership, Naval War College and director of the Naval War College Press and editor of the Naval War College Review.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TRENDS IN KAZAKHSTAN: RISKS, THREATS, AND PROSPECTS. 11/16, 4:30-6:00pm. Sponsor: Central Asia Program (CAP), GWU. Speaker: Dossym Satpaev, Kazakhstani Analyst.

A WORLD IN CRISIS: HOW CAN SMART POWER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 11/16, 5:00-6:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: British Council. Speaker: Ciarán Devane, Chief Executive, British Council.

KOREA CLUB WITH DR. CHANIL AN: NORTH KOREA AND NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS AFTER THE SEVENTH WORKERS’ PARTY CONGRESS. 11/16, 6:30-9:00pm, Dinner, Vienna, Virginia. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute. Speaker: Dr. Chanil An, President, North Korea Research Center.

POLICY BY OTHER MEANS: A REVIEW OF DOD’S LAW OF WAR MANUAL. 11/16, 7:00pm, Dinner, Arlington, VA. Sponsor: National Security Law Journal. Speakers: Matthew McCormack, Associate General Counsel, U.S. Department of Defense; Dr. Nicholas Rostow, Research Professor, National Defense University; Tom Bowman, Pentagon Reporter, National Public Radio.
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‘Japan Lobby’ takes the gloves off in PR battle

November 21, 2015, 7:16 pm
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BY  Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan and APP member

First published in THE JAPAN TIMES, October 31, 2015

The Sankei Shimbun advocates a more aggressive diplomatic stance on history issues and this dovetails with the mission of Japan Conference, a reactionary organization that includes numerous lawmakers. From their perspective, Japan has been too reticent and polite on the world stage and the gloves need to come off.

It never seems to occur to them that this might be a counterproductive strategy and that on history issues it leaves Japan vulnerable to criticisms of promoting an exonerating narrative that glorifies wartime and colonial excesses.

But Japan is not exactly a public-diplomacy wallflower. The Japanese government, foundations and firms have developed an influential network in the United States that dates back to the 1970s. That era of acrimonious trade frictions spawned what American scholar Robert Angel has dubbed the “Japan Lobby,” a multipronged public- and private-sector effort to shape U.S. policy and attitudes. ProPublica estimates that total Japanese spending on lobbying and public relations was a whopping $4.2 billion in 2008, putting Japan third behind the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, while South Korea ranked eighth with $2.9 billion.

Like many of my university colleagues in Japan and the U.S., in September I was sent copies of two books from Liberal Democratic Party Upper House lawmaker Kuniko Inoguchi — “History Wars: Japan — False Indictment of the Century,” which was compiled and published by the Sankei Shimbun [and written by Yoshihisa Komori, Sankei reporter-at-large in Washington, DC], and “Getting Over It! Why Korea Needs to Stop Bashing Japan,” by Takushoku University professor Sonfa Oh. It turns out that this thinly veiled attempt at propaganda was also sent to the foreign press corps in Tokyo, but it’s not clear which organization paid for this extravagant gesture. The U.S.-registered nonprofit Global Alliance for Historical Truth, however, claims credit for the distribution of “History Wars” on its website.

It is unlikely that these polemical jeremiads will convince anyone to change their mind. The tone of the Sankei book is closer to unhinged ranting rather than reasoned argumentation and stretches credulity in asking to be taken seriously. It trots out the familiar assertion that there is no documentary proof of coerced recruitment of “comfort women,” but undermines its own case by acknowledging that Dutch women were coercively recruited by force. The soldiers involved were convicted solely on the testimony of these white comfort women while testimony by Korean comfort women about coercive recruitment is dismissed outright — an unseemly double-standard that speaks volumes about Sankei’s bias.

The Sankei book also points out that in 1993 when the Kono statement acknowledging state responsibility for coercive recruitment of comfort women was issued, the government clearly defined coercion as including threats and intimidation. This is an awkward point given the Sankei’s disingenuous efforts to downplay the comfort women issue by focusing exclusively on denying coercive recruitment involving physical force. The Sankei apparently thinks that if it can redefine coercion and convince everyone that there were no comfort women recruited at bayonet point, then Japan can wriggle off this hook of history as if the entire sordid system is not the issue.


Korean scholar Park Yu-ha, who is often cited by Japanese conservatives, refers to archival documents that prove private recruiters, including Japanese civilians dressed in military uniform, recruited comfort women through intimidation and deception at the behest of Japanese military authorities. She believes the Korean women who testify that they were coercively recruited, and also maintains that Chinese women and others across Asia were pressed into sexual service through coercion. Park also wants the Diet to issue an apology to the comfort women.

Moreover, scholar C. Sarah Soh also found that in battlefront areas wherever Japanese troops were stationed, local women were forced to serve in improvised comfort stations. It is also documented that the military transported the comfort women to the comfort stations on military bases where they were denied freedom of movement. So what exactly is the Sankei’s point?

The Sankei is also up in arms about China’s alleged backing of a comfort woman statue and Pacific War Museum in San Francisco [WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, the first overseas anti-Japanese war memorial, VIDEO], apparently misunderstanding the local politics that drive these initiatives. It conveniently overlooks how, in 2013, Toru Hashimoto, as mayor of Osaka, sister city of San Francisco, drew the ire of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and city residents with his apologist comments about the comfort women system.

Raising the alarm about ongoing “History Wars” being waged in the United States, the Sankei asserts that China is orchestrating discord between the U.S. and Japan over history. If so, Beijing is doing a lousy job as more Americans by far distrust China: Only 38 percent of Americans have a high opinion of China while 74 percent have a favorable view of Japan. Tokyo’s best bet here is just to get out of the way and enjoy China’s self-inflicted wounds. It’s time Tokyo grasped that attacking criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his historical views as anti-Japanese, makes it look both paranoid and malicious.

San Francisco Bay Area activists assert that before the board unanimously approved the comfort women memorial in September, the Japan Lobby was vigorously working behind the scenes to kill the resolution. Locals privately assert that there was an anti-statue campaign of disinformation, and that local Japanese-American organizations were pressured to lobby against the resolution, with continued Japanese corporate funding hanging in the balance.

The board disregarded allegations about incidents of discrimination and bullying targeting ethnic Japanese children in Glendale, California, after a comfort woman statue was erected there. Glendale authorities dismissed these unsubstantiated claims by opponents to the statue, pointing out there were no reports to schools or police at the time. It seems that Japan would do better to shrug off these comfort women statue and memorial initiatives because intervention seems to backfire, throwing fuel on the fires of recrimination over the shared East Asian past thereby ensuring that more will be built.

So what should we make of the newly established organization Voices of Vietnam, a well-funded group that has hired former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman [lobbyist with Hogan Lovells, Embassy of Japan's longtime lobbying firm] to serve as point-man in demanding President Park Geun-hye apologize for Vietnamese comfort women who served some 320,000 South Korean soldiers fighting at the behest of Washington in the Vietnam War? This organization held a press conference on Oct. 15 in connection with Park’s summit with U.S. President Barack Obama. In a Fox News op-ed published on the eve of the summit [President Park should publicly apologize for South Korea's sexual violence in Vietnam], Coleman demanded Park apologize to the Vietnamese victims of Korean sexual predations: “Failing to make such an unequivocal apology would only undermine President Park’s moral authority as she presses Japan to apologize for the sexual violence perpetrated against South Korean ‘comfort women’ during World War II.”

Apparently whacking Park is the main mission of an organization that seems, rather curiously, to have sprung up out of nowhere, according to sources in the Vietnamese diaspora in the U.S.

Certainly, amends to these women — there are an estimated 800 survivors — and the thousands of children of mixed ancestry born to them, are in order, but why hasn’t Coleman spoken out about the far larger, similar problem involving U.S. soldiers? And, given the expense of hiring ex-senators to be lobbyists, as the Japanese government has already done with Tom Daschle, who is paying the bills here?
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Monday in Washington, November 23, 2015

November 22, 2015, 9:09 am
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This is Thanksgiving week and Washington pretty much shuts down.

THE “PITILESS” WAR: A STRATEGY AFTER THE PARIS ATTACKS. 11/23, 10:00-11:15am. Sponsor: The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Speakers: James Jeffrey, Distinguished Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Matthew G. Olsen, Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center; Derek Chollet, Counselor and Senior Adviser for Security and Defense Policy, GMF.

click to order
REAPPRAISING THE U.S. MILITARY STRATEGY AND MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN. 11/23, Noon-1:30pm Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: David Barno, American University; Ali Jalali, National Defense University; Thomas Lynch, National Defense University; David Sedney, CSIS.

THE DETERIORATING STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA. 11/23, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: CATO Institute. Speakers: Chen Guangcheng, Visiting Fellow, Catholic University; Teng Biao, Associate, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy; Wei Jingsheng, Chairman, Wei Jingsheng Foundation; Xia Yeliang, Director, Center for Liberty and Global Prosperity, CATO Institute.

A TRANSATLANTIC POLICY CONVERSATION ON GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY. 11/23, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: Center for American Progress. Speakers: Dan Glickman, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Nancy Stetson, U.S. Special Representative for Global Food Security, U.S. Department of State; Richard Leach, President and CEO, World Food Program USA; Alexander Müller, Member of the German Council for Sustainable Development; Alexander Carius, Managing Director, Adelphi.

US COMBATING THE ISLAMIC STATE: IS A NEW STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT NEEDED? 11/23, Noon-2:00pm, Arlington, Virginia. Sponsor: Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Speakers: Michael S. Swetnam, CEO, Chairman, Potomac Institute; Robert C. McFarlane; Former NSA to President Reagan, Co-Founder, US Energy Security Council; Keith J. Stalder, General (Ret.), USMC (Ret.), Former Commanding General, USMC Forces Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, Senior Fellow, Member, Board of Regents, Potomac Institute; Judith Yaphe, Former Senior Analyst, Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA, Professor, Elliot School, GWU; Dean Alexander, Director, Homeland Security Research Program , Professor, Homeland Security, School of Law Enforcement & Justice Administration, Western Illinois University.
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Whither Russo-Japanese Relations?

November 23, 2015, 9:43 am
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By: Stephen Blank, Senior Fellow and resident Russia expert at the American Foreign Policy Council
First published in the Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 12 Issue: 212, November 20, 2015

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be visiting Japan this year or anytime soon (see EDM, October 9) and currently no agenda even exists for any such visit, Tokyo appears so desperate for reconciliation with Moscow that it has agreed to continue discussing the status of the disputed Kurile Islands and overall normalization of relations with Russia. Indeed, Putin invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to Moscow instead, and Abe is apparently considering accepting. But if Japan follows this path, it will be venturing into dangerous diplomatic territory. As noted at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment, on November 15, several Japanese analysts and policymakers harbor the belief that Russia may be prepared to return at least two of the Kurile Islands. Moreover, they contend that if Japan and Russia are able to come to some kind of agreement on the disputed territories, this could open the way for an overall, if gradual, rapprochement between Russia and the West, which would redound to Japan’s credit (Kyodo News Service, November 15, 16; Japan Times, November 17).

However, Tokyo’s persistent chasing after Moscow probably has not strengthened its cause or reputation. For one thing, it has likely reinforced Russia’s preconceptions that Japan needs Russia more than Russia needs Japan, even though the truth is arguably the exact opposite. But additionally, it has bolstered Russia’s seeming belief that it can bully Japan, insult it with impunity, and still gain its objectives (see EDM, July 31). Illustratively, in mid-September 2015, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, that normalization was only possible if Japan first recognized the “historical realities” regarding the Kurile Islands (Japan Times, September 22).

Moscow has clearly demonstrated it would not negotiate on the island issue for as long as sanctions on Russia, which were passed by Tokyo and its Western partners in response to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, remain in place. In other words, for Japan to receive any of its islands back, let alone regain sovereignty over them, the price it will probably have to pay would be breaking the West’s united front on sanctions. Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who oversees Russia’s Asian policies, said as much several months ago (Interfax, September 2). But that action, if taken, would place a landmine under Japan’s relations with its most important ally—the United States—and the West in general.

Putin has reportedly warned Abe that if he comes to Japan, the Russian leader must have concrete economic results to show for it (Nikkei Asian Review, September 15). And at the Putin-Abe meetings in September 2015, Putin pointedly referred to declining Russo-Japanese trade (Ajw.asahi.com, September 29). However, he also expressed his confidence that both states have a high potential for economic cooperation on a large number of joint projects (Kyodo, September 29). Similarly Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the State Duma (lower house of parliament) and a close aide to Putin, has stated that “Japan’s imposition of sanctions on Russia has become an obstacle to bilateral relations” (Kyodo, September 11).

Logically one should have concluded that no realistic prospect for normalizing Russo-Japanese relations exists. The evidence has been wide and varied, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit to the Kurile Islands; the new Russian plans for a military buildup there (see EDM, October 28); fresh insults directed against Tokyo in the wake of Japanese protests about those actions; the August 2015 Russo-Chinese naval maneuvers, which featured simulated amphibious landings (RT, August 16); as well as President Putin’s prominent presence in Beijing, in September, at the 70th anniversary celebration of the end of World War II, which was marked by a high level of anti-Japanese rhetoric (Xinhua, September 3). Moreover, during August–September 2015, almost every day featured a Japanese or Russian denunciation of the other government’s actions or speeches in regard to the Kurile Islands. Indeed, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs infuriated Tokyo by saying at one point that the Kurile Islands problem does not exist—i.e., that for Russia, there is no problem (Sputnik News, September 4). Neither was this the first time the Russian foreign ministry or other officials have simply denied the existence of the problem. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, a known provocateur, exemplified such inflammatory rhetoric when, in August, he suggested that the Japanese government would be better off committing collective ritual suicide (hari-kiri) rather than continue to complain about Medvedev’s recent visit to the Kurile islands (Kyodo, August 25).

Even if Japan renounces the sanctions it imposed on Russia, it might still not receive the disputed islands back; and if Tokyo does eventually regain the Kuriles, it could well be in the form of a “gift” from Moscow that does not entail the full transfer of sovereignty to Japan. Such an outcome would thus be a poisoned chalice for the East Asian island country. Accordingly, if Japan were to indeed break the sanctions regime on Russia, it is difficult to see how such a step would translate into Tokyo becoming a broker for an East-West rapprochement. Nor would Japan dropping its sanctions be likely to contribute to geopolitically detaching Russia from China. Importantly, Japan would probably not receive anything other than a symbolic acknowledgement of territories whose symbolic value far outweighs their strategic utility for Tokyo. Rather, Tokyo would have isolated itself from its allies and shown Beijing that it can be pushed around simply for the sake of its “status.” 

Put another way, by agreeing to abandon sanctions in exchange for Moscow’s partial or conditional acceptance of Tokyo’s claim to the Kuriles, Japan would inadvertently be signaling to other governments in the region that it does not hold fast to the principle of the territorial inviolability of states. That would be an ominous precedent with regard to its claims to the Senkaku Islands, which are under a Chinese challenge. Ultimately then, the belief that Japan can break its alliance ties in order to gain some symbolic victories or economic opportunities represents not realism but wishful thinking. And in regard to Russia, wishful thinking is never enough.
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Books discussed in Washington

November 24, 2015, 2:17 pm
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The following books will be discussed in public programs in 
Washington, DC in the following weeks. Click on each book to order.
















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Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule May 18-24, 2015

November 25, 2015, 10:18 am
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Monday, May 18, 2015

AM
08:00 At private residence (no visitors)
09:41 Depart from private residence
09:54 Arrive at official residence
10:07 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
10:38 End meeting with Mr. Seko
11:53 Depart from office
11:55 Arrive at Diet
11:56 Enter Upper House President’s Reception Room
11:57 Leave Upper House President’s Reception Room, enter Upper House Chamber

PM
12:01 Plenary session of the Upper House begins
01:08 Plenary session of the Upper House adjourns
01:09 Leave Upper House Chamber
01:10 Depart from Diet
01:12 Arrive at office
01:32 Interview with monthly journal Seiron
02:12 Interview ends
02:19 Receive a courtesy call from Japanese Co-Chairman Kazuo Tsukuda, Acting EU Co-Chairman Danny Risberg, and other members of the EU-Japan Business Round Table
02:31 Courtesy call ends
02:45 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Ministry of Finance’s Director-General of Budget Bureau Tanaka Kazuho, and Ministry of Finance’s Director-General of the Financial Bureau Nakahara Hiroshi
03:24 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Tanaka, and Mr. Nakahara
03:25 Meet with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Habuka Shigeki, Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Tawa Hiroshi
03:40 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa
03:47 National Security Council meeting
03:56 Meeting ends
03:57 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro, Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi
04:20 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and Mr. Kawano
04:32 The fourth meeting of the Council for the Protection of Information
04:57 Depart from office
04:58 Arrive at Diet
04:59 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:00 LDP Officers Meeting
05:25 Meeting ends
05:35 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:36 Depart from Diet
05:38 Arrive at office
05:39 Meet with President of the Party for Future Generations Hiranuma Takeo, Secretary-General of the Party for Future Generations Matsuzawa Shigefumi, and others
05:56 End meeting with Mr. Hiranuma, Mr. Matsuzawa, and others
06:04 Film video message for universities
06:07 Finish filming
06:32 Depart from office
06:43 Arrive at the Headquarters Building of Yomiuri Shimbun in Otemachi-cho, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Chairman of Yomiuri Group, Inc. Watanabe Tsuneo, Yomiuri Shimbun’s Special editorial board member Hashimoto Goro, Chairman of Sankei Shimbun Kiyohara Takehiko, Nikkei Shimbun’s Chief Editorial Writer Serikawa Yoichi, President of NHK Enterprises, INC. Imai Tamaki, and Commentor Yayama Taro
09:22 Depart from Yomiuri Shimbun
09:37 Arrive at private residence

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:07 Depart from private residence
08:20 Arrive at office
08:28 Cabinet meeting
08:41 Cabinet meeting ends
09:50 Film video message for American groups
09:57 Finish filming
10:06 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro and LDP Lower House member Hayashi Moto
10:33 End meeting with Mr. Nikai and Mr. Hayashi
10:34 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau Uemura Tsukasa, MOFA’s Director-General of Intelligence and Analysis Service Oka Hiroshi
11:03 End meeting with Mr. Saiki, Mr. Uemura, and Mr. Oka
11:05 Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters Miyagawa Tadashi enter
11:14 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Miyagawa leave
11:31 Mr. Kitamura leaves
11:32 Meet with Chairman of Young Diet Members’ Association for Promoting Japan-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange Kishi Nobuo, and the Association’s Secretary-General Hagiuda Koichi
11:54 End meeting with Mr. Kishi and Mr. Hagiuda
11:55 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawai Katsuyuki 

PM
12:04 End meeting with Mr. Kawai
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Chamber
12:59 Speak with Senior Vice-Minister of Defense Sato Akira
01:00 Finish speaking with Mr. Sato
01:02 Plenary session of the Lower House begins
01:04 Leave in the middle of the plenary session of the Lower House
01:05 Depart from Diet
01:07 Arrive at office
01:35 Meet with MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
02:13 End meeting with Mr. Hiramatsu and Mr. Kuroe
05:18 The 6th meeting in 2015 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
06:19 Meeting ends
06:23 Reception for Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama. Commemoration Photograph Session. Attend a ceremony by the guard of honor
06:30 Ceremony ends
06:32 Japan-Fiji Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
07:31 Summit meeting ends
07:33 Joint press announcement. Exchange uniforms with Rugby representatives
06:41 Depart from office
06:43 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and wife Akie
08:52 Send off Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
08:53 Finishing send-off

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:40 Depart from official residence
09:42 Arrive at office
09:43 Interview open to all media: when asked his comments on surpassing the tenure of his grandfather and former Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, Prime Minister Abe says, “I have a long way to go. What is important is not the number of days in office but what I have achieved. I will devote myself to tackling our policies.”
09:44 Interview ends

PM
02:54 Depart from office
02:55 Arrive at Diet
02:58 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
03:00 Party Leaders’ Debate
03:49 Party Leaders’ Debate ends
03:51 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
03:53 Depart from Diet
03:54 Arrive at Diet
03:56 Minister of Finance Aso Taro, MOF’s Deputy Vice-Minister Fukuda Junichi, and Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s Director-General of Budget Bureau Tanaka Kazuho
04:46 Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Tanaka leave
05:00 Mr. Aso leaves
05:01 Meet with Mayor of Nagoto City, Yamaguchi Prefecture Onishi Kurao
05:05 End meeting with Mr. Onishi
05:06 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
05:55 Reception for President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. Commemoration Photograph Session
05:56 Attend a ceremony by the guard of honor
06:02 Ceremony ends
06:04 Japan-Mongolia Summit Meeting with President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
06:43 Summit meeting ends
06:46 Joint Press Conference
06:55 Joint Press Conference ends
06:56 Depart from office
06:57 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo
08:10 Send off President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
08:11 Finishing send-off

Thursday, May 21, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:45 Depart from official residence
09:47 Arrive at office
10:00 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
10:07 End meeting with Mr. Kimura
10:09 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
10:19 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
11:03 Depart from office
11:13 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-cho, Tokyo. Host a luncheon for Prime Minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Neill and other guests in banquet hall Ho-Oh-No-Ma.

PM
12:40 Receive a courtesy call from Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin
12:55 Courtsey call ends
01:04 Depart from hotel
01:10 Arrive at office
01:34 Meet with Minister of the Environment Mochizuki Yoshio
01:55 End meeting with Mr. Mochizuki
01:56 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
02:29 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
04:17 Meet with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Shimomura Hakubun, Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yamanaka Shinichi, MEXT’s Director-General of Sports and Youth Bureau Kubo Kimito
04:37 End meeting with Mr. Shimomura, Mr. Yamanaka, and Mr. Kubo
05:20 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Saiki Akitaka, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime, MOFA’s Director-General of Economic Affairs Bureau Saiki Naoko
05:55 End meeting with Mr. Saiki, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Hayashi, and Ms. Saiki
05:58 Depart from office
06:03 Arrive at Imperial Hotel in Uchisaiwai-cho, Tokyo.
06:13 Receive a courtesy call from Deputy Prime Minister of Kingdom of Thailand Pridiyathorn Devakula in the banquet hall Chidori
06:21 Courtesy call ends
06:26 Receive a courtesy call from Deputy Prime Minister, Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vu Van Ninh
06:41 Courtesy call ends
06:47 Receive a courtesy call from Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla
06:57 Courtesy call ends
07:05 Attend the banquet of the 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia held in Tokyo, delivered a speech, exchange views with attendants
08:47 Finishing attending the banquet
08:49 Depart from the hotel
08:56 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo. Attend a social gathering of Columbia University Business School personnel, alumni, and others
09:58 Depart from the hotel
10:14 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo



Friday, May 22, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence (no morning visitors)
08:02 Depart from private residence
08:15 Arrive at office
08:22 Cabinet meeting
08:39 Cabinet meeting ends
09:32 Depart from office
09:47 Arrive at JR Tokyo Station
09:54 Depart from the station with wife Akie by Shinkansen Train Hitachi 7

PM
12:03 Arrive at Yumoto Station in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture
12:06 Depart from the station
12:15 Arrive at Hotel Monolith Tower in Iwaki City
12:57 Depart from hotel
01:28 Arrive at Tairausuiso area in Iwaki City. Visited the disaster-affected area with leaders attending the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting, lay a wreath and offer a silent prayer. Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Uchibori Masao and Mayor of Iwaki City Shimizu Toshio also attend
02:05 Depart from Tairausuiso area
02:37 Arrive at Hotel Monolith Tower
03:07 Depart from hotel
03:08 Arrive at Hotel Hawaiians
03:18 Hold talk with President of the Republic of Kiribati Anote Tong
03:34 Talk ends
03:40 Hold talk with President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands Christopher J. Loeak
03:57 Talk ends
04:04 Hold talk with President of the Republic of Nauru Baron Divavesi Waqa
04:19 Talk ends
04:58 Hold talk with President of the Republic of Palau Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr.
05:18 Talk ends
05:24 Hold talk with President of the Federated States of Micronesia Peter Martin Christian
05:41 Talk ends
05:55 Hold talk with Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
06:20 Talk ends
07:06 Commemoration photograph session with leaders attending the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting
07:16 Photograph sesson ends
07:17 A banquet hosted by Prime Minister Abe and wife Akie
08:32 Banquet ends
08:36 Depart from hotel
08:40 Arrive at Beach Theater, enjoy a performance by the "Hula Girl" dancing team with leaders
09:07 Commemoration photograph session with the “Hula Girl” dancing team and leaders
09:11 Depart from theater
09:12 Arrive at Hotel Monolith Tower

Saturday, May 23, 2015

AM
12:00 At Hotel Monolith Tower (no visitors)
08:00 At Hotel Monolith Tower (no morning visitors)
08:58 Depart from hotel
08:59 Arrive at Hotel Hawaiians
09:10 Attend the opening ceremony of the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting, deliver a keynote speech
09:21 Opening ceremony ends
09:22 The first session of leaders’ meeting
10:11 Session ends
10:18 Commemorative photograph session
10:19 Photograph session ends
10:38 The second session of leaders’ meeting

PM
12:17 Session ends
12:28 The third session of leaders’ meeting. Lunch
01:09 Lunch ends
01:10 The closing ceremony of the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting
01:14 Ceremony ends
01:36 Joint Press Conference with President of the Republic of Palau Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr.
01:44 Joint Press Conference ends
01:55 Receive a courtesy call from Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia Bishop
02:13 Courtesy call ends
02:19 Summit meeting with Premier of Niue Toke Tufukia Talagi
02:34 Meeting ends
02:42 Summit meeting with Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Henry Puna
02:59 Meeting ends
03:07 Summit meeting with Prime Minister of Tuvalu Enele Sosene Sopoaga
03:25 Meeting ends
04:07 Summit Meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu Joe Natuman
04:22 Meeting ends
04:28 Summit meeting with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga Samuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva
04:43 Meeting ends
04:54 Receive a courtesy call from Deputy Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Douglas Ete
05:12 Courtesy call ends
05:13 Depart from Hotel Hawaiians
05:15 Arrive at Hotel Monolith Tower
06:02 Depart from hotel
06:11 Arrive at JR Yumoto Station in Iwaki City
06:23 Depart from station by Shinkansen Train Hitachi 26
08:47 Arrive at JR Tokyo Station
08:51 Depart from station
09:05 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya Tokyo

Sunday, May 24, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
10:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stay at private residence throughout morning

PM
Stay at private residence throughout afternoon and evening

Provisional Translation by Pengqiao Lu andErin M. Jones

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Asia mostly backsliding on democratic values

November 28, 2015, 12:47 pm
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BY Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan and APP member

THE JAPAN TIMES,  November 28, 2015 

In Japan, lawyers are fortunately not arrested by the state for doing their job, as they are in China. Nor are academics faced with indictment for challenging mainstream history narratives, as in South Korea.

We tend to expect the worst when it comes to China, but in democratic South Korea it is troubling to learn that professor Park Yu-ha is being subjected to a witch-hunt over her recent book, which challenges the official story of the “comfort women.” Whether she is right or not is irrelevant; in a functioning democracy scholars should have the political space needed to voice their opinions even if their ideas are unpopular.

Combined with President Park Geun-hye’s recent initiative to reassert a state monopoly on high school textbooks by 2017, and the arrest of a Japanese journalist for what amounted to shoddy journalism — thereby transforming him into an undeserving icon for press freedom — clearly the South Korean government is working overtime to tarnish that nation’s hard-won image for robust democracy. The good news is that large-scale demonstrations against the president’s gambit to white-wash history show that citizens zealously guard these rights and are not going to tolerate any conservative backsliding on South Korea’s praetorian history.

Park must envy Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He has promoted patriotic education and imposed new guidelines that give the state inordinate control over what is written in Japan’s textbooks; when it comes to touchy subjects like territorial disputes or comfort women, they must conform with government views. And Abe has accomplished this without sparking mass protests about the history lobotomy he is administering. Perhaps this is because Abe’s Japan is a target-rich environment for progressive activists as he propels reactionary agendas across the board ranging from welfare for the wealthy — aka “Abenomics” — to nuclear restarts, collective self-defense, shoving a new U.S. military base at Henoko down the throats of Okinawans, arms exports, moral education, faux “womenomics,” visits to Yasukuni Shrine and so on. With so many targets, it’s hard to focus public disaffection.

Abe’s signature initiatives and grandstanding gestures may not be popular, but a weak and fragmented opposition gives him a free hand. The mass protests this past summer, in which demonstrators rallied in defense of the Constitution and against his security legislation, followed protests against his 2013 state secrets legislation, a remarkable rollback of what limited transparency has ensued since a national information disclosure law was passed in 2001.

The government seems paranoid over international scrutiny of this secrecy legislation, as the planned December visit of David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur charged with examining Japan’s record on transparency and accountability, has been postponed indefinitely. No doubt the officials charged with designating state secrets are so busy making sure that none of the dirty linen sees the light of day for 60 years — yes, that is the inscrutably lengthy period for which government documents can be withheld from public scrutiny — that making time to welcome an unwelcome visitor is a low priority.

So next month, when Abe visits Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, he can offer moral support for New Delhi’s recent stonewalling of visits by U.S. State Department officials regarding human trafficking and LGBT rights. Given that Modi’s star is fading rapidly in India, underscored by a monumental setback at the state polls earlier this month in Bihar, where he had campaigned extensively, he could use a bit of Abe-teflon. Increasingly Modi has fallen back on the dark agenda of Hindutva (Hindu chauvinism) to offset the growing disenchantment with his mounting failures on the promises of national rejuvenation encapsulated in the “India Shining” propaganda. As with Abe’s historical revisionism, support for the Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi) and Yasukuni visits, Modi finds the temptations of the primordial are hard to resist and is also dumbing down India’s textbooks. Abe will try to seal the deal on exporting Japanese nuclear technology to India and Shin Maywa’s amphibious U-2 planes, which can track Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean. He will also try to get New Delhi to buy Japanese high-speed rail technology.

China’s recent snatching of the Indonesian high-speed rail contract came as an unpleasant surprise given close bilateral ties between Indonesia and Japan since World War II and lingering animosity toward Beijing in Jakarta for alleged (and unsubstantiated) support for a so-called communist coup in 1965. In the aftermath, the military mounted a real coup under former President Suharto (1967-98), who, with the aid of Islamic youth groups and paramilitary organizations and gangs, unleashed a wave of terror that killed up to 1 million Indonesians.

This slaughter remains controversial in Indonesia, where President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has not carried through on his pledges for a full reckoning. This might be somewhat easier now, after the U.S. State Department in September declassified materials related to Washington’s involvement in fingering targets for the death squads. But Jokowi is politically weak and has also been unable to follow through on promises to open the troubled province of Papua to journalistic scrutiny because security forces there want to keep their repressive operations under wraps. And his “boss,” Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, is now trying to kill the anti-corruption commission in one of the most corrupt nations in the world.

At a November conference in Berlin on Sino-Japanese rivalry, discussion of Abe’s recent tour through central Asia singled out his visits to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where Abe disappointed human rights activists by shifting toward a more pragmatic stance similar to China’s. Unlike his predecessors, Abe came up short by ignoring widespread concerns about political repression. Given that China’s energy deals overshadow Japan’s by far, Abe had little to lose and much to gain by standing tall on democratic values and human rights. Alas, Abe decided that “success” depended on acting more like Beijing and cozying up to despots.

Myanmar is one of the bright spots for democracy in Asia, after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a resounding landslide victory in the October election. It now faces the impossible task of meeting unreasonably high expectations. She doesn’t have a magic wand, however, and has to deal with ethnic problems that have proven intractable for the entire post-WWII independence period. She also needs to cope with militant Buddhist monks eager to whip up anti-Muslim violence.

Yet, the people voted out the military-backed junta for the second time in 25 years, and this time the generals indicate they will respect the outcome, a belated reward for citizens’ perseverance under a despotic regime. There is, however, an urgent need for donors to open the spigots of aid and the flow of technical assistance required to help them climb out of the very deep hole dug by an inept kleptocracy that has misruled for way too long.
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Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule May 25-31, 2015

November 28, 2015, 1:14 pm
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Monday, May 25, 2015

AM
08:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:43 Depart from private residence
08:56 Arrive at office
09:30 The second meeting of the Cyber Security Strategy Headquarters
09:35 Meeting ends
09:41 Receive a proposal from the Science and Technology Parliamentary Association
10:01 End reception
10:12 Meet with Secretary-General of Headquarters for Abduction Issue Ishikawa Shoichiro
10:27 End meeting with Mr. Ishikawa
10:29 Meet with Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen, Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, MOFA’s Director-General of International Legal Affairs Bureau Akiba Takeo, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuo
11:32 End meeting with Mr. Nakatani, Mr. Yachi, Mr. Akiba, and Mr. Kuroe

PM
12:12 Depart from office
12:19 Arrive at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery. Attend the Ceremony of Reverence, lay a wreath
12:45 Depart from Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery
12:54 Arrive at office
01:36 Film video message for medical science-related activity
01:59 End filming
02:01 Meet with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Habuka Shigeki, Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Tawa Hiroshi
02:34 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa
02:35 Meet with Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Masuda Hiroya
03:12 End meeting with Mr. Masuda
03:20 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa
04:02 End meeting with Mr. Nagamine
04:03 Meet with Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s Deputy Vice-Minister Fukuda Junichi and MOF’s Director-General of Tax Bureau Sato Shinichi
04:29 End meeting with Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Sato
Suga and Yamaguchi think shirt itches
04:33 Presentation of Kariyushi Shirt from the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Takeshi Onaga. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Yamaguchi Shunichi also attend
04:45 Presentation ends
04:53 Depart from office
04:54 Arrive at Diet
04:55 Enter LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
04:56 Endorse the Governor candidate for Gunma Prefecture. Photograph Session
04:58 Leave LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
04:59 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:01 LDP Officers Meeting
05:20 Meeting ends
05:38 Speak with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
05:42 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:43 Depart from Diet
05:45 Arrive at office
06:14 Reception for Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. Commemoration Photograph Session.
06:15 Ceremony by the guard of honor
06:21 Ceremony ends
06:23 Japan-Malaysia Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Najib Razak
07:19 Summit meeting ends
07:22 Joint Press Announcement
07:36 Joint Press Announcement ends
07:37 Depart from office
07:38 Arrive at the official residence. Banquet hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and wife Akie
08:56 Send off Prime Minister Najib Razak and his spouse Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor
08:58 Send-off ends

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:27 Depart from office
07:32 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:13 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:24 Cabinet meeting
08:40 Cabinet meeting ends
08:41 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
09:53 End meeting with Mr. Kato
09:54 Depart from office
09:56 Arrive at Diet
09:57 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 43
10:00 Meeting of the Committee on Health, Labour, and Welfare of the Upper House

PM
12:03 Meeting adjourns. Leave Upper House Committee Room No. 43
12:04 Depart from Diet
12:06 Arrive at office
12:36 Depart from office
12:38 Arrive at Diet
12:40 Enter LDP President’s Office
12:41 Meet with Chief Representative of Japan Innovation Party Matsuno Yorihisa
12:49 End meeting with Mr. Matsuno
12:50 Leave LDP President’s Office
12:52 Enter Lower House Speaker’s Reception Room
12:55 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen
12:59 End meeting with Mr. Aso and Mr. Nakatani
01:00 Leave Lower House Speaker’s Reception Room, enter Lower House Chamber
01:02 Plenary session of the Lower House
04:01 Plenary session adjourns, leave Lower House Chamber
04:02 Depart from Diet
04:04 Arrive at office
04:05 Meet with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Miyazawa Yoichi and State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takagi Yosuke
04:23 End meeting with Mr. Miyazawa and Mr. Takagi
04:48 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, and Director of Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Shimohira Koji
04:56 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Shimohira leave
05:08 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:17 Meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
06:22 Meeting ends
06:28 Ceremony to Present the Commendations for Contributors to Consumer Support for FY2015
06:40 Ceremony ends
06:56 Receive a courtesy call from a delegation led by Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee of the United States Michael D. Rogers
07:13 Courtesy call ends
07:15 Depart from office
07:32 Arrive at Italian restaurant Ristorante ASO. Dinner meeting with Chairman of the ANA Holdings Inc.’s Board Ito Shinichiro and President of ANA Holdings Inc. Katanozaka Shinya
09:01 Depart from the restaurant.
09:09 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:14 Depart from private residence
07:27 Arrive at office
08:54 Depart from office
08:56 Arrive at Diet
08:58 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community

PM
12:01 Meeting adjourns
12:02 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
12:04 Depart from Diet
12:05 Arrive at office
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens
05:02 Meeting adjourns
05:03 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
05:05 Depart from Diet
05:07 Arrive at office
05:13 Meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues
05:27 Meeting ends
05:28 Speak with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
05:30 Finish speaking with Mr. Ohta
05:43 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nishikawa Koya, and others
06:17 End meeting with Mr. Nikai, Mr. Nishikawa, and others
06:22 Depart from office
06:31 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Attend a party hosted by LDP faction Santo in banquet hall Aoi within the hotel, deliver an address.
06:41 Depart from the hotel
06:49 Arrive at Japanese restaurant Kurosawa in Nagata-Cho, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with President of Nippon Television Holdings, Inc. Okubo Yoshio, journalist Goto Kenji, and others
09:37 Depart from the restaurant
09:53 Arrive at private residence

Thursday, May 28, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:12 Depart from private residence
07:24 Arrive at office
07:26 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
08:53 End meeting with Mr. Kato
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:03 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community

PM
12:02 Meeting adjourns
12:03 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
12:05 Depart from Diet
12:06 Arrive at office
12:47 Meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens
05:04 Meeting adjourns
05:05 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
05:07 Depart from Diet
05:08 Arrive at office
05:19 National Security Council meeting
05:54 Meeting ends
06:03 Depart from office
06:11 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-Cho, Tokyo. Attend a party hosted by LDP Lower House member Hosoda Hiroyuki in banquet hall Ho-Oh-No-Ma, deliver address
06:22 Depart from office
06:40 Arrive at Japanese restaurant Shinbashi Matsuyama in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige and others
07:21 Depart from the restaurant
07:27 Arrive at steakhouse Kawamura in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, LDP Lower House member Kawamura Takeo, and others
09:28 Depart from the steakhouse
09:48 Arrive at private residence



Friday, May 29, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:54 Depart from private residence
08:05 Arrive at office
08:14 Cabinet meeting
08:29 Cabinet meeting ends
09:19 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
09:41 End meeting with Mr. Seko
09:54 Depart from office
09:56 Arrive at Diet
09:57 Enter Upper House President’s Reception Room
09:58 Leave Upper House President’s Reception Room, enter Upper House Chamber
10:01 Plenary Session of the Upper House
10:15 Speak with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
11:38 Leave in the middle of the Plenary Session of the Upper House
11:40 Depart from Diet
11:42 Arrive at office
11:44 Interview open to all media: when asked “how will the government handle the volcano eruption in Kuchinoerabu Island, Kagoshima Prefecture,” Mr. Abe answers, “the government will work together and make every effort to ensure the safety of residents in the island.”
11:46 Interview ends
11:48 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko in the Crisis Management Center
11:53 End meeting with Mr. Seko and Mr. Nishimura

PM
12:04 Ruling Parties Leaders’ Conference with Chief Representative of Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo
12:53 Conference ends
01:10 Receive a fifth proposal from the Headquarters for Accelerating Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake of the Ruling Parties
01:24 End reception
01:26 Meet with Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira and Acting Director of Bureau of Headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalization Sugawara Ikuro
01:42 End meeting with Mr. Amari and Mr. Sugawara
01:43 Receive a courtesy call from violinist Vadim Repin. Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Japan Evgeny Afanasiev and MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime also attend
02:04 Courtesy call ends
02:13 Receive a courtesy call from the Iris Princesses and others. Former Minister of Finance Nukaga Fukushiro and Mayor of Itako City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hara Hiromichi also attend
02:19 Courtesy call ends
02:20 Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Habuka Shigeki, and Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Tawa Hiroshi enter
02:32 Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa leave
02:42 Mr. Amari leaves
03:02 The sixth Thematic Meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council
03:48 Meeting ends
03:49 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
04:22 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
05:35 Reception for President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, and President of the European Council Donald Tusk. Ceremony by the guard of honor
05:43 Ceremony ends
05:44 Japan-EU Summit Meeting, small assembly attends
06:14 Meeting ends
06:16 Commemoration Photograph session
06:17 Session ends
06:18 plenary Japan-EU Summit Meeting. Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Miyazawa Yoichi also attend
07:06 Meeting ends
07:18 Joint press announcement
07:33 Joint press announcement ends
07:35 Depart from office
07:36 Arrive at the official residence. Dinner
08:48 Send off President of the European Commission Juncker, and President of the European Council Tusk
08:49 Send-off ends

Saturday, May 30, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
Stay at official residence throughout morning

PM
01:36 Depart from official residence
01:43 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend the ancient style equestrian show and tea party to celebrate the Emperor and Empress’s 80th birthday
04:18 Depart from Imperial Palace
04:27 Arrive at official residence
04:28 Meet with Minister of State for Disaster Management Yamatani Eriko, State Minister of Cabinet Office Akazawa Ryusei, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends
04:47 Depart from official residence
05:00 Arrive at Salon HAIR GUEST in Shibuya, Tokyo. Haircut
06:16 Depart from the salon
06:25 Arrive at official residence
06:26 Interview open to all media: when asked “how will the government respond after receiving the reports of the volcano eruption,” Mr. Abe answers, “we are closely watching changes of the situation, and I want to make sure the completeness of the measures for people that have been evacuated.”
06:27 Interview ends

Sunday, May 31, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:54 Depart from official residence
07:57 Arrive at JR Tokyo Station
08:08 Depart from the station by Shinkansen Train Yamabiko 127. Minister for Reconstruction
Takeshita Wataru accompanies Prime Minister
09:33 Arrive at JR Koriyama Station
09:38 Depart from the station
09:56 Arrive at Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA), in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. Observe the solar photovoltaic power generators and other facilities. Exchange views with employees
10:14 Depart from the Institute
10:16 Arrive at a manufacturer of food product machinery in Koriyama City. Exchange views with employees
10:38 Depart from the manufacturer
11:09 Arrive at restaurant Hachimonjiya in Miharu-Cho, Fukushima Prefecture. Lunch

PM
12:10 Depart from the restaurant
12:18 Arrive at emergency Kaiyama temporary housing area in Tamura County. Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Uchibori Masao, Head of Katsurao Village Matsumoto Masahide, and others receive Prime Minister. Hold a roundtable with residents of Kaiyama emergency temporary housing area. Exchange views with business operators and visit a temporary shop
12:56 Depart from the area
01:34 Arrive at Ban-etsu Expressway’s Bandasan Service Area. Buy Aizu salty vanilla custard cream
01:42 Depart from the service area
02:23 Arrive at Yanaizu Nishiyama Geothermal Power Plant in Yanaizu-Cho, Kawanuma County, Fukushima Prefecture. Town Mayor of Yanaizu-Cho Iseki Shoichi and others receive Prime Minister. Obeserve the inside of the generator building, the inside of the generator structure, and the site of the geothermal production well
03:11 Interview open to all media: when asked “ how will the government accelerate the reconstruction of the disaster-affected areas?” Mr. Abe answers, “the policy package to revive
Fukushima suffering from the nuclear disaster will be approved in Cabinet meeting in mid-June.”
03:14 Interview ends
03:15 Depart from the Power Plant
04:45 Arrive at JR Koriyama Station
04:47 Meet with Minister for Reconstruction Takeshita Wataru and Former Minister for Reconstruction Nemoto Takumi in the station’s VIP room
05:00 End meeting with Mr. Takeshita and Mr. Nemoto
05:05 Depart from the station by Shinkansen Train Yamabiko 52
06:23 Arrive at JR Tokyo Station
06:28 Depart from the station
06:37 Arrive at hotel Andaz Tokyo in Toranomon, Tokyo. Dinner with wife Akie, Mr. Abe’s mother Kishi Yoko, and others at the restaurant Andaz Tavern within the hotel
09:03 Depart from the hotel
09:18 Arrive at the private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Provisional Translation by Pengqiao Lu and Erin M. Jones
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Search

November 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

November 29, 2015, 10:07 am
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Statement by
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC

Today we celebrate the many stories of courageous and bold action to end gender-based violence— the nuns helping people escape sex trafficking, the men in Argentina teaching boys in football clubs to treat women with respect, the businesswomen in Detroit raising money to test rape kits, and the college students in India speaking out against gender-based violence and advocating for stronger enforcement of laws and public safety.

This cause is deeply personal to me. When I was a prosecutor outside Boston in the 1970s, I worked to put people behind bars for rape and sexual assault. We were one of the very first jurisdictions in America to set up a witness protection program so that people weren’t twice victimized – once by the crime and once by the system. And we put together a priority prosecution unit that took such cases and put them on a fast track for trial. Because no matter who you are or what you do: “No” means “no”; “against will” means “against will”; and force is never acceptable.

But the truth is that far too many cases of violence continue to occur—the wife beaten by her husband in Papua New Guinea, the college student sexually assaulted on campus in the United States, the women raped by government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 15-year-old girl in Europe at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting, the young Afghan stoned to death because she refused to be married, and the thousands of minority women and girls enslaved by Daesh and subjected to serious human rights abuses.

Gender-based violence is a problem in every country around the globe, including the United States. One in three women around the world will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. For older women, women with disabilities, transgender women and women in marginalized communities, the reality is even worse. And all of this comes at a terrible cost, not only for women, but for families, communities, economies, and countries the world over.

Each and every one of us can do something to end gender-based violence. The United States is committed to tackling these issues by strengthening the rule of law, extending a hand to survivors, and working to change outdated attitudes about women and girls. We're also working with global partners to eradicate conflict-related sexual violence, and we welcome a new G7 report highlighting the power of collective action.

The bottom line is that we do this work every day, 365 days a year. But on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and over the next few weeks during the 16 Days of Activism, we shine a spotlight not only on the deplorable instances of gender-based violence, but also the heroes working to end it. And we pledge to continue our efforts to support survivors, work toward prevention, and make crystal clear that gender is never a justification for violence.

Publication of the G7 Report on the Implementation of the G8 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, November 25, 2015

The Chair of the G7 has the honour to present the G7 Report on the Implementation of the G8 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The Declaration was made in April 2013 to address the prevalence of systematic and widespread sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. We set out to work together, in a concerted campaign, to strengthen prevention and response. Better support needed to be provided to victims, more capacity needed to be built for prevention. We sought to remove barriers that prevent effective monitoring and reporting of sexual violence and improve accountability and access to justice.

This report illustrates the progress that has been made by providing a selection of concrete actions by G7 members and highlighting other major international efforts with G7 participation. It represents an intermediate step and serves as a symbol of renewed commitment by the G7 to the Declaration.
G7 Report on the Implementation of the G8 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict PDF | 394 KB (9 pages)

Japan as noted in the G-7 report
In the same year [2014], Japan held a public symposium in Tokyo with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to discuss and deepen understanding of the main challenges and responses to sexual violence in armed conflict.
Japan made a voluntary contribution of approximately €600,000 to the Trust Fund for Victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to support survivors of sexual violence. An additional €400,000 is earmarked to support survivors of SGBV.

In 2015, Japan allocated an additional $2.55 million in 2015, to support the work of the Team of Experts in the DRC and the Central African Republic. Japan became the largest donor to the Office of SRSG on SVC in 2014, with a contribution of $2.15 million in order to bolster the judicial systems in the DRC and Somalia.
Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Page on Women

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Monday in Washington, November 30, 2015

November 29, 2015, 3:52 pm
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BEYOND THE BUDGET DEAL: A CONVERSATION WITH DOD COMPTROLLER MIKE MCCORD. 11/30, 8:30-9:30am. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Mike McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer.

HOUSING, INCLUSION AND SOCIAL EQUITY: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE. 11/30, 8:30am-2:30pm. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speakers: Martin S. Indyk, Executive Vice President, Brookings; William (Sandy) Darity, Director, Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equality, Duke University; Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore; Jack Markell, Governor, State of Delaware; Setti David Warren, Mayor, Newton, Massachusetts; Xavier de Souza Briggs, Vice President, Ford Foundation.

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY’S WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2015. 11/30, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA); Moderator: Sarah Ladislaw, Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS.
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Giving Tuesday - Support APP Member Authors

December 1, 2015, 10:53 am
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Click on any of the book covers below to order the bookBy doing so you support the author & APP


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Mr. Abe and His "100 Million"

December 3, 2015, 3:12 pm
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The minister in charge Katsunobu Kato, 
appointed to lead the “100 million” effort
Why is Japan's prime minister using wartime propaganda buzzwords to promote his social and economic programs?

And why should the world care?

by Michael Cucek, a Tokyo-based consultant to the financial and diplomatic communities and author of the Shisaku blog on Japanese politics and society and an APP member

First published in Number 1 Shimbun, Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Imagine German Chancellor Angela Merkel announcing a new set of national economics, labor and natality initiatives that proudly promise to preserve 80 percent of the current population without immigration, increase the size of the economy by a third in five years and turn back the clock on sex, work and marriage to the 1970s. Imagine that the program is called the “Arbeitszeit macht Freizeit” (“Work Time Makes Free Time”) Program, that she is appointing a special cabinet minister with that title and is insisting that there is no resemblance between the program’s name and the notorious “Arbeit Macht Frei” slogan hanging over the gates at Auschwitz.

Then imagine that Angela Merkel, rather than being a former East German citizen from a Protestant church family with no ties to the Nazi era (which she is), instead is the scion of a leading Third Reich family – Albert Speer’s eldest granddaughter, perhaps – and a well-known apologist for the excesses of the Nazi state.

The world would likely have a nervous breakdown.

Yet the world’s financial and political commentators merely shrugged when on Sept. 24 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled his “Ichi oku so katsuyaku” (100 Million Making Eye Opening Efforts As One” initiative – a.k.a. The New Three Arrows of Abenomics.) Two weeks later, when he introduced his new Cabinet, it included Katsunobu Kato in a newly created position in charge of driving the program.

What is stunning is the decision to use the historically fraught number 100 million (ichi oku) as his target population level.

One cannot fault the overall goals of the New Three Arrows. After all, Japan’s current population level of 127 million is unsustainable when the number of births per woman is at 1.42 and immigration is a negligible force. Indeed, the population is already dropping, last year by 268,000. If no special measures are taken, the population will fall below 100 million somewhere around the year 2050 and decline to around 80 million by the millennium. Japan’s relative and absolute economic power will decline in step, leaving the country a still populous but minor player at the end of the century.

That the ambitious Mr. Abe wants more for his country than a slide into sleepy irrelevance is not surprising. What is stunning is the decision by Abe, the grandson of the wartime government’s munitions minister and a known admirer of Imperial Japan, to use the historically fraught number 100 million (ichi oku) as his target population level.

ANYONE WITH A PASSING knowledge of pre-1945 propaganda can rattle off a string of ichi oku phrases, none of which invokes happy memories. There is the commandment for ideological unanimity – Ichi oku isshin ("100 Million Persons: One Mind”) – or the encouragement to press forward with the war effort – Susume ichi oku hi no tama da (“Forward The 100 Million Balls of Flame!”). There is the call for to be prepared for extermination of every single Japanese citizen in the final defense of the country: Ichi oku gyokusai (“100 Million Crushed Jewels”).

In his speech announcing Japan’s surrender, Emperor Hirohito thanked the ichi oku shusho (“the 100 million commoners”) for their efforts, vain as those efforts turned out to be. And most disturbingly, there is the infamous call of Prince Higashikuni, the interim prime minister after the surrender, for an Ichi oku so zange (“100 Million Reflecting Upon Their Responsibility as One”) – as if the Japanese people were collectively responsible for the country’s descent into war rather than the nation’s leaders – where Higashikuni’s phrase is the same ichi oku that appears in Shinzo Abe’s new program.

Ever since announcing the new program and ministerial post, Abe has been denying any link between his 100 million population goal and the wartime propaganda use of that number as a shorthand for “all Japanese.” Mr. Abe’s protestations, however are undercut by the peculiar and inaccurate official government English translation of ichi oku so katsuyaku as “Promoting Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens.” If there is nothing wrong with saying “100 Million As One” in Japanese, why does the English translation not use that phrase as well?

Abe also maintains open ties to the revisionist and denialist Nippon Kaigi, and addressed that organization’s mass meeting via video message

If the use of the 100 million figure is dog whistle politics – a signal sent out to those whose political ears are set to hear a specific pitch – it is not as if Abe’s continuing allegiance to Japan’s revisionist right is a secret. While he has suspended his annual pilgrimages to Yasukuni Shrine in order to secure summit meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, he still sends cash donations and presents to the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan’s acceptance of defeat in World War II.

Abe also maintains open ties to the revisionist and denialist Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference), and addressed that organization’s “Let’s Revise the Constitution – the Great Gathering of the 10,000” mass meeting at the Nippon Budokan via video message on Nov. 10. He also tucks into his schedule meetings or visits, such as pilgrimages to Ise Shrine or paying respects at the grave of anti-Tokugawa activist Shoin Yoshida [his home was mysteriously included among Japan's UNESCO World Industrial Heritage sites approved this past July], that appear benign but which revisionists can read as quiet assurances that the hard right’s longtime champion still holds their issues and values close to his heart.

IS IT WRONG FOR Abe to pander to the revisionists or blend his economic revival and social inclusion programs with elements of his romantic view of pre-1945 Japan? Not necessarily. A politician has to demonstrate his gratitude to the knot of loyalists who have been with him from the very beginning, granting them some measure of their wishes and taking stances they will applaud. He cannot turn his back on his original supporters, even if he has since supplanted them with richer and more socially acceptable backers – a political reality the great political satirist Molly Ivins summed up in the phrase, “You gotta dance with them what brung you.” [Abe also spent nearly two hours on November 28th at the revanchist Sosei Nippon gathering.]

The revisionists “brought” us Shinzo Abe – at least the first Shinzo Abe premiership of 2006-7. Ignoring them and their issues would represent a risky bet by the prime minister on the economy’s performing above trend or his new friends in big business staying as close to him in the future as they are now.

Many of the changes the Abe Cabinet and the LDP have been molding into legislation are, from an international perspective, socially liberal and market-oriented transformations.

Affixing revisionist labels on ambitious economic and social engineering changes could also represent clever political salesmanship on Abe’s part. Many of the changes the Abe Cabinet and the Liberal Democratic Party have been molding into legislation are, from an international perspective, socially liberal and market-oriented transformations. These would be inimical to the party’s core support among economic and social conservatives, who have taken Mr. Abe’s campaign slogan Nippon o torimodosu (“We Will Take Japan Back”) at face value. By applying a gloss of pre-war Imperial Japan on these programs, Abe is ostensibly shielding them from the automatic rejection they would have received were they presented as liberal or neo-liberal reforms.

A noble reading of the intentions of Mr. Abe and his allies would be that they are plastering a disingenuous pre-1945 “100 Million as One” label on their plans for a post-industrial, post-mercantilist 21st-century democracy in order to sell what would otherwise be unsaleable. However, for that reading to be plausible, the reforms themselves would have to be honest and profound – so much so that it was worthwhile for the government to lie about their true nature in its sale pitch.

THIS IS PRECISELY THE point where the generous view of the Abe administration falls apart. The New Three Arrows of Abenomics – a 600 trillion yen economy by 2020, 1.8 births per woman by 2025 and the zeroing out of persons leaving the workforce to care for an elderly relative (currently over 100,000 workers per year and rising) – are unachievable. Economists and business writers have scoffed at the proposal to increase the nominal GDP 22 percent in five years—though a recent proposed revision of the calculation of GDP figures seems to have lowered the bar.

As for 1.8 births per woman, the last time that happened was back in 1984 – and even that figure was a fluke. One has to go back to 1977, when the marriage, development and labor environments were so different as to be those of another country to get a realistic sustained rate of 1.8 births per Japanese woman. As for the third proposal to zero out the number of job leavers due to eldercare – without the mass immigration of healthcare workers the promise is beyond absurd. The very oldest members of the postwar baby boom generation that dwarfs all its predecessors are not even 70 years of age yet. Many of these boomers indeed are already the stressed-to-the-breaking point caregivers of the relatively tiny generation of their parents. When the boomers themselves become the cared-for rather than the care-giving, the loss of only 100,000 workers a year to eldercare will seem a dream by comparison.

What then are we to make of the “100 Million Making Eye Opening Efforts As One” initiatives? Why go to all the trouble of associating them with the pre-war Japanese imperial state when they are not even realizable? And what kind of modern democratic government has a core policy program whose goals are not just difficult but impossible to achieve?

The answers to these questions may be simple ones. Mr. Abe and his government face a national election in 2016 – far enough in the future that the wide-ranging protests against the security bill and the little sense of any opposition that they seemed to engender will very likely have faded from the public’s memory. If the pure fantasy of these initiatives and their unrealistic goals succeed in stupefying the non-aligned voters into a lethargic state, the ruling coalition may conceivably be able to motivate its base and seize control of both Houses of the Diet, setting the stage for revision of the Constitution – Mr. Abe’s well-known, long-cherished goal. ❶
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Monday in Washington, December 7, 2015

December 6, 2015, 3:38 pm
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December 7 - 74th anniversary (1941) of Imperial Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Day honors the 2,400 people who died when the Japanese attacked the base in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, which brought a war being fought largely in Europe to U.S. soil. Flags will be flown at half-staff at government locations to honor those who died, and many homes across the country will display the American flag.

A ceremony will be held Monday afternoon in Washington at the National World War II Memorial. In Honolulu, the annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade will extend a mile through the city Monday evening.

Many of the day's events from Pearl Harbor will be live-streamed at pearlharborevents.com, Participants will be able to ask questions about the attack from National Park Service experts.

In addition, the live-stream will show a special commemoration of the sinking of the USS Oklahoma with the loss of 429 crew, and observe interment in the hull of the USS Arizona of an urn with the ashes of Joseph Langdell, a former ensign on the ship. The events are sponsored by the park service, the U.S. Navy and the Pacific Historic Parks.

On Tuesday, a dive to the wreck of the USS Arizona by a Pacific National Monuments cultural resources chief will be broadcast live, and people can ask questions through Facebook.

NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE LAW OF THE SEA. 12/7, 9:00am-5:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: International Law Institute. Speakers: Vladimir Golitsyn, President, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; Tullio Treves, Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP; Judge Tomas Heidar, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; John Norton Moore, University of Virginia School of Law; Bernard Oxman, University of Miami School of Law; Sean Murphy, George Washington University School of Law; Paul Reichler, Foley Hoag LLP.

A DISCUSSION OF THE KEY ECONOMIC ISSUES IN ELECTION 2016. 12/7, 9:30-11:00am. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Jared Bernstein, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum; R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean, Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School; Neera Tanden, President, Center for American Progress.

OECD EXPERT BRIEFING: THE CHANGING FACE OF STRATEGIC CRISIS MANAGEMENT. 12/7, 10:00-11:00am. Sponsor: OECD. Speakers: Charles Baubion, Policy Analyst, High-level Risk Forum, OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate; Mads Ecklon, Head of Division, Center for Preparedness Planning and Crisis Management, Danish Emergency Management Agency; Nicolas Mueller, Head, Federal Crisis Management Training, Swiss Federal Chancellery; Jack Radisch, Project Manager, High-level Risk Forum, OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate; Eric Stern, Professor, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware; Bengt Sundelius, Senior Adviser, Civil Contingencies Agency, Sweden.

THE COMPETITION FOR CAPITAL IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY SECTOR. 12/7, 10:40am-Noon. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: John Hamre, President and CEO, CSIS; Pierre Chao, Founding Partner, Renaissance Strategic Advisors.

TAIWAN’S ONGOING DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT AND GROWING CHINESE MILITARY THREATS. 12/7, Noon, Lunch. Sponsor: International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC). Speakers: Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Vice President, IASC; Richard D. Fisher, Jr., Senior Fellow, IASC.

ASSESSING IRAN'S SUPPORT FOR REGIONAL MILITIAS. 12/7, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: Fouad Hamdan, Founder and Executive Director, Rule of Law Foundation; Kate Seelye, Senior Vice President, MEI.

click to order

SHADOW FINANCIAL REGULATORY COMMITTEE CONFERENCE. 12/7, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: AEI. Speakers: Franklin Edwards, Columbia University; Robert A. Eisenbeis, Cumberland Advisors; Richard J. Herring, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Edward Kane, Boston College; George G. Kaufman, Loyola University Chicago; Albert S. Kyle, University of Maryland; Erik R. Sirri, Babson College; Chester Spatt, Carnegie Mellon University.

DEFEATING THE ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS: A GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING AL QAEDA AND THE ISLAMIC STATE. 12/7, 2:30-4:30pm. Sponsor: AEI. Speakers: General Michael T. Flynn, US Army (ret.); Mary Habeck, Visiting Scholar, AEI; Seth Jones, Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation; Frederick W. Kagan, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Director, Critical Threats Project, AEI; Katherine Zimmerman, Research Fellow, AEI.

BOOK LAUNCH: A WORLD OF THREE CULTURES BY AMBASSADOR MIGUEL BASÁŇEZ. 12/7, 5:30-7:30pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. Speakers: Author Miguel E. Basáňez, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States; Alejandro Moreno, Professor of Political Science, Instituto Tecnologico de Mexico; Enrique Alduncin, Director General, Alduncin y Asociados S.A. de C.V. The event will be in Spanish, no simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
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Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule June 1 to June 7, 2015

December 10, 2015, 12:13 pm
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Monday, June 1, 2015

AM
07:10 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:23 Arrive at office
07:24 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
08:12 End meeting with Mr. Kato
08:54 Depart from office
08:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community

PM
12:03 Meeting adjourns
12:04 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
12:06 Depart from Diet
12:08 Arrive at office
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens
05:01 Meeting adjourns
05:02 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
05:03 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:06 LDP Officers Meeting
05:23 Meeting ends
05:24 Speak with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu, Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, and LDP Executive Acting Secretary-General Hosoda Hiroyuki
05:32 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:33 Depart from Diet
05:34 Arrive at office
05:35 Interview open to all media: when asked “the feeling of hearing the news of the former Lower House Speaker Machimura Nobutaka’s death,” Mr. Abe answers, “I have been receiving his guidance since I was young. I feel really sorry.”
05:36 Interview ends
05:47 The 8th meeting in 2015 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
06:46 Meeting ends
06:47 Interview open to all media: when asked, “how will the government respond to the information leak of Japan Pension Service?” Mr. Abe answers, “ I have instructed Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Shiozaki that we must put the pensioners in first and guarantee the completeness of our measures.”
06:48 Interview ends
06:49 Depart from office
06:52 Arrive at ANA InterContinental Hotel Tokyo in Akasaka, Tokyo. Attend the party hosted by LDP members’ group Yurinkai  [有隣会] that is led by Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu in the banquet hall Prominence within the hotel, deliver an address
06:58 Depart from the hotel
07:05 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Akasaka Hanten in Akasaka, Tokyo. Informal talks with all top reporters of Cabinet Kisha Club
08:32 Depart from the restaurant
08:52 Arrive at the residence of the late former Lower House Speaker Machimura Nobutaka, condolence call
09:11 Depart from the residence
09:28 Arrive at private residence

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:46 Depart from private residence
07:59 Interview open to all media: when asked “the feeling of wearing Kariyushi shirt” (a style of dress shirt originating in Okinawa), Mr. Abe answers, “Light and cool, I feel great.”
08:00 Interview ends
08:07 Hold the 29th meeting of the Global Warming Prevention Headquarters
08:20 Meeting ends
08:24 Cabinet meeting
08:37 Meeting ends
08:39 Meet with Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency Kubo Shigeto and others
08:55 End meeting with Mr. Kubo and others
09:05 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Iijima Isao
09:21 End meeting with Mr. Ijima
09:52 Meet with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
10:31 End meeting with Mr. Motegi
10:32 Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, and MOFA’s Director-General of Economic Affairs Bureau Saiki Naoko enter
10:52 Mr. Nagamine leaves
11:06 Mr. Saiki and Ms. Saiki leave
11:07 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Sakaiya Taichi
11:15 End meeting with Mr. Sakaiya
11:16 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Honda Etsuro
11:30 End meeting with Mr. Honda
11:31 Meet with President of Parliamentary League for Promotion of Soccer Diplomacy Eto Seishiro
11:44 End meeting with Mr. Eto
11:45 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Kiso Isao
11:47 End meeting with Mr. Kiso
11:48 President of Bank of Japan Kuroda Haruhiko enters

PM
12:47 Mr. Kuroda leaves
01:33 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Hirata Takeo
01:46 End meeting with Mr. Hirata
01:49 Depart from office
02:02 Arrive at Federation of Economic Organizations [Nippon Keidanren] Assembly Hall in Otemachi, Tokyo. Attend the Regular General Meeting of the Nippon Keidanren, deliver an address
02:30 Depart from the hall
02:39 Arrive at office
02:40 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Fuji Satoshi
02:48 End meeting with Mr. Fuji
02:49 Meet with former Lower House member Nishikawa Kyoko
02:57 End meeting with Ms. Nishikawa
02:58 Meet with the Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Kenneth C. Frazier and others
03:12 End meeting with Mr. Frazier and others
03:13 Meet with Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo, and Ministry of Finance’s Director-General of International Bureau Asakawa Masatsugu
03:45 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Yamasaki, and Mr. Asakawa
03:50 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
03:54 End meeting with Mr. Kimura
04:02 Receive a courtesy call from the four winners of the 46th National Truck Driver Contes
04:09 Courtesy call ends
04:14 Meet with the CEO of Korean Lotte Group Shigemitsu Akio
04:24 End meeting with Mr. Shigemitsu
04:44 Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, and Director of Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Shimohira Koji enter
04:55 Mr. Shimohira leaves
04:56 National Police Agency (NPA)’s Director of Security Bureau Takahashi Kiyotaka enters
05:01 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Takahashi leave
05:16 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:17 Receive a courtesy call from former President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy
05:38 Courtesy call ends
06:03 Receive a courtesy call from Team Japan of the J7 Summit and Dr. Agnes Chan, Goodwill Ambassador of the Japan Committee for UNICEF
06:19 Courtesy call ends
06:20 Depart from office
06:30 Arrive at wine bar Amuruzu in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with President of New Renaissance Party Arai Hiroyuki
08:46 Depart from the bar
09:07 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, June 3, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:36 Depart from private residence
08:52 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Reception event for President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III
09:41 Depart from Imperial Palace
09:51 Arrive at office
10:51 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Yoshimura Yasunori
11:00 End meeting with Mr. Yoshimura
11:01 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Otani Yasuo
11:25 Receive a courtesy call from Minister for Defence of Australia Kevin Andrews MP. Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen
11:47 Courtesy call ends

PM
01:22 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, MOFA’s Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Junichi, MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau Uemura Tsukasa
02:29 End meeting with Mr. Sugiyama, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Ihara, Mr. Hayashi, and Mr. Uemura
02:30 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro, and Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi
02:47 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and Mr. Kawano
02:53 Depart from office
02:54 Arrive at Diet
02:57 Enter Upper House Chamber
03:09 Welcome ceremony for President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III
03:37 Ceremony ends
03:38 Leave Upper House Chamber
03:40 Depart from Diet
03:42 Arrive at office
04:01 Depart from office
04:09 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioicho, Tokyo. Attend the in the banquet hall Fuyo within the hotel, deliver an address
04:32 Depart from the hotel
04:39 Arrive at office
05:45 Receive a courtesy call from the Editor–in-chief of Bloomberg News Micklethwait. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige also attends
06:09 Courtesy call ends
06:31 Depart from office
06:38 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend Imperial Banquet Reception for President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III
09:50 Depart from Imperial Palace
10:03 Arrive at private residence

Thursday, June 4, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence (no morning visitors)
09:33 Depart from private residence
09:48 Arrive at office
10:00 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Munakata Norio
10:19 End meeting with Mr. Munakata
10:20 Meet with Chairman of LDP International Intelligence Investigative Committee Harada Yoshiaki and others
10:28 End meeting with Mr. Harada and others
10:29 Meet with Chairman of LDP Headquarters for Regional Diplomatic and Economic Partnership Eto Seishiro, Director of LDP Foreign Affairs Division Akiba Kenya, and others
10:40 End meeting with Mr. Eto, Mr. Akiba, and others
10:41 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Eto Seiichi
10:52 End meeting with Mr. Eto
10:59 Meet with The Governor of Maryland of the U.S. Larry Hogan
11:11 End meeting with Mr. Hogan
11:12 Meet with Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira and Acting Director of Bureau of Headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalization Sugawara Ikuro
11:46 End meeting with Mr. Amari and Mr. Sugawara

PM
12:04 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
12:37 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
12:52 Depart from office
12:54 Arrive at Diet
12:56 Enter Lower House Chamber
12:57 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Chairman of LDP Diet Affairs Committee Sato Tsutomu
12:59 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso and Mr. Sato
01:00 Speak with LDP Executive Acting Secretary-General Hosoda Hiroyuki and Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
01:01 Finish speaking with Mr. Hosoda and Mr. Motegi
01:02 Lower House Plenary Session begins
01:04 Leave in the middle of Lower House Plenary Session
01:05 Depart from Diet
01:07 Arrive at office
01:09 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Nakamura Yoshio
01:14 End meeting with Mr. Nakamura
01:37 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry‘s Administrative Vice-Minister Ishiguro Norihiko, Ministry of Environment’s Vice-Minister for Global Environment Seki Soichiro
02:59 End meeting with Mr. Seko, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Yamasaki, Mr. Ishiguro, and Mr. Seki
03:04 Receive a courtesy call from the 67th United States Cherry Blossom Queen Noelle Mary Verhelst and others
03:13 Courtesy call ends
03:17 Send off the funeral procession for the late former Lower House Speaker Machimura Nobutaka in front of Prime Minister’s Office. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attend
03:19 Send-off ends
03:22 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s Deputy Vice-Minister Fukuda Junichi, MOF’s Director-General of Budget Bureau Tanaka Kazuho, and MOF’s Director-General of Tax Bureau Sato Shinichi
04:19 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Fukuda, Mr. Tanaka, and Mr. Sato
04:21 The seventh Thematic Meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council
04:57 Meeting ends
05:19 Depart from office
05:24 Arrive at Akasaka Palace State Guest House in Moto-akasaka, Tokyo.
05:59 Japan-Philippines Summit Meeting with President of the Republic of the Philippines Benigno S. Aquino III
06:45 Summit meeting ends
06:49 Signing ceremony, exchange of documents, and joint press announcement.
07:11 Joint press announcement ends
07:22 Host a banquet, deliver an address
08:55 Banquet ends
09:08 Depart from Akasaka Palace
09:13 Arrive at Aoyama Funeral Hall in Minamiaoyama, Tokyo. Attend the Tsuya (the Japanese practice of keeping vigil over the dead) for the late former Lower House Speaker Machimura Nobutaka
09:17 Depart from Aoyama Funeral Hall
09:30 Arrive at private residence

Friday, June 5, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no visitors)
07:47 Depart from private residence
08:00 Arrive at office
08:07 The fifth meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country
08:21 Meeting ends
08:26 Cabinet meeting
08:38 Cabinet meeting ends
09:24 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, and MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime
10:40 Depart from office
10:51 Arrive at Aoyama Funeral Hall in Minamiaoyama, Tokyo. Attend the funeral for the late former Lower House Speaker Machimura Nobutaka, deliver a memorial address
11:53 Depart from Aoyama Funeral Hall

PM
12:05 Arrive at office
01:01 Ruling Party Liaison Conference
01:23 Conference ends
01:25 Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, and Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Tawa Hiroshi enter
01:46 Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, and Mr. Tawa leave
02:02 Mr. Amari leaves
02:07 Receive a courtesy call from the Miss Plum Girls. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige also attends
02:15 Courtesy call ends
02:20 Receive a courtesy call from Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
02:35 Courtesy call ends
02:40 Receive a courtesy call from the President of International Association of Athletics Federations Lamine Diack, the President of Japan Association of Athletics Federations Yokokawa Hiroshi. Cabinet Advisor Hirata Takeo also attends
03:05 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
03:23 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
03:28 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime, MOFA’s Director-General of International Cooperation Bureau Ishikane Kimihiro, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry‘s Administrative Vice-Minister Ishiguro Norihiko
04:10 End meeting with Mr. Seko, Mr. Sugiyama, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Ishikane, and Mr. Ishiguro
04:11 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
04:31 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Saiki
04:37 Receive a courtesy call from Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Cemil Çiçek
04:54 Courtesy call ends
05:14 Depart from office
05:23 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioicho, Tokyo. Attend the party hosted by LDP Faction Nikai in the banquet hall Fuyo within the hotel, deliver an address
05:34 Depart from hotel
06:03 Arrive at Haneda Airport
06:24 Interview open to all media: when asked “where will the G7 Summit be held next year?” Mr. Abe answers, “as we hope to choose a venue where world leaders could feel and enjoy Japan’s rich culture and tradition, along with its beautiful scenery, we decided that Mie prefecture would be hosting the summit.”
06:28 Interview ends
06:54 Depart from airport on personal government aircraft with wife Akie bound for Ukraine in order to attend the 2016 G7 Summit
(Local time in Ukraine)
Arrive at Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine. Stay night at Hotel Hyatt Regency Kyiv in Kiev city.

Ukraine Famine Memorial
Saturday, June 6, 2015
AM
(Local time in Ukraine)

Offer flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Memorial in Commemoration of Famines’ (Holodomor) Victims in Ukraine, and the Maidan memorial
Attend a military parade. Attend a summit meeting with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Signing ceremony. Joint press announcement
Attend a welcome lunch hosted by President Poroshenko and his wife

PM
(Local time in Ukraine)
Hold talks with Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman
Observe a hybrid car being used by traffic police. Visit Saint Sophia’s Cathedral
Depart from Boryspil International Airport
(Evening) Arrive at Munich Airport in German
Stay night at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich city

Sunday, June 7, 2015
AM
(Local time in German)
Depart from Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich city
Arrive at the venue of the 2015 G7 Summit Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Southern German by helicopter
Hold talks with President of the French Republic François Hollande

PM
Attend G7 Summit
Welcome ceremony hosted by Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel. Commemoration Photo Session. Discuss on the themes of global economy

Provisional Translation by Pengqiao Lu
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Monday in Washington, December 14, 2015

December 12, 2015, 7:19 pm
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12/13 - 1937. Beginning of the Rape of Nanking
12/14 - 1944. Palawan Massacre
12/22 - 1941. Fall of Wake Island
12/23 - Japanese Emperor Akihito's birthday
12/25 - 1941. Japanese capture Hong Kong

click to order
FIGHTING KLEPTOCRACY. 12/14, 11:45am-1:30pm. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Ben Judah, Creative Consultant, From Russia with Cash, and Author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin; Natalie Sedletska, Investigative Journalist and Host, Schemes: Corruption in Detail; Roman Borisovich, Supervisory Board Member, Anti-Corruption Foundation; Moderator: Karen Dawisha, Professor and Director, Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies, Miami University; Advisory Council Member, Kleptocracy Initiative, Hudson Institute.


NORTH KOREA: MARKETS AND MILITARY RULE. 12/14, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Hazel Smith, Professor, Director of Korean Studies, University of Central Lancashire, UK, Author of North Korea: Markets and Military Rule; Katharine H.S. Moon, SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies, Brookings; Moderator: James Person, Coordinator, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, Deputy Director, History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center.
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REFLECTIONS ON GLOBAL HISTORY IN THE 20TH CENTURY: TOWARDS A NEW VISION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. 12/14, 2:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Japan Chair, CSIS. Speakers: Sebastian Conrad, Professor of History, Freie Universitat Berlin; Yuichi Hosoya, Professor, Keio University; Satoshi Ikeuchi, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo; William Inboden, Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas-Austin; Jian Chen, Hu Shih Professor of History for U.S.-China Relations, Cornell University; Cemil Ayden, Associate Professor of History, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Moderator: Michael J. Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Toyota Japan Chair, CSIS; Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy, Georgetown University.

THE WISDOM OF A GRAND NUCLEAR BARGAIN WITH PAKISTAN. 12/14, 3:30-5:00pm. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Toby Dalton, Co-Director, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie; Gaurav Kampani, Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council; Sameer Lalwani, Deputy Director, South Asia Program, Stimson; Moderator: Bharath Gopalaswamy, Director, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council. 
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Did you know that Japan's elections are unconstitutional?

December 16, 2015, 2:15 pm
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And that the current Diet is considered illegally elected?


The Supreme Court and the state of unconstitutionality

By Andrew J. Sutter, a specially appointed professor at the College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University.


Commentary for The Japan Times, December 4, 2015


For the third time this decade, a majority of the Supreme Court Grand Bench has ruled that a Lower House election was “in a state of unconstitutionality.” Districts drawn under the Public Offices Election Law for the 2014 election violated the constitutional principle of equality of votes — or at least, violated it by too wide a margin. A vote in the least densely populated district had the same impact as more than two votes in the most densely populated one.

What does this vague phrase mean? From 1976 to 2011, the court had found several Upper and Lower House elections to be “unconstitutional” (kenpo ihan). The euphemism “in a state of unconstitutionality” (iken jotai) was first used in 2011. It means that the districts were unconstitutional (really), but that a reasonable time for the Diet to fix the election law had not yet passed. Had the districts been unconstitutional and a reasonable time for remediation passed, the court would have called them “unconstitutional.” Indeed, the other day three of the 15 justices did that.

As in all previous cases of unconstitutional elections, though, the Supreme Court refused to invalidate the election results. It simply reminded the (illegally elected) Diet members to clean up the election law. To many commentators, this perverse result is the best we can reasonably expect. Respected scholar and blogger Michael Cucek [APP member], for example, calls the ruling “all that anyone could have and can reasonably hope for in terms of the Supreme Court’s making Japanese elections more fair.”

Here’s the rationale: The Constitution’s Article 41 says that the Diet is the sole lawmaking organ of the state (kuni no yuiitsu no rippou kikan). And Article 47 says that electoral districts, method of voting and other matters pertaining to the election of both houses of the Diet are to be determined by law (houritsu, which connotes statutes passed by the Diet). If the election results are set aside, the Diet dissolved and a new election held, who’s going to fix the election law in the meantime? And if the election is invalid, aren’t laws enacted since then invalid too?

It’s not clear how calling an election unconstitutional but valid fixes the last problem, but it’s easy to minimize in the future if courts expedite election-related lawsuits. To solve the other issues, though, the Supreme Court has to ignore (some might say violate) another article of the Constitution. Article 98 says that if any law or other act of the state is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, it doesn’t have legal force or validity. The court can’t choose whether or not an unconstitutional election is invalid — it’s automatically so.

Would taking Article 98 seriously be a disaster? Suppose the court declared the election invalid and the sitting Lower House illegitimate but left some pieces of the election law intact, including the number of seats. (Article 43 requires that number to be fixed by statute, too.) And suppose the court ordered a new election to be held within 15 days of its ruling. One way to avoid the districting problem would be for the court to choose to base the election on a single, nationwide district, with seats awarded in proportion to the number of votes each party receives. To minimize changes to existing law, the court could choose to keep the election law’s algorithm for allocating proportional seats — though there are other methods that better represent the vote, such as the one used in Germany. The court can easily avoid the question of the validity of laws enacted after the invalidated election by waiting for challenges case by case.

This doesn’t result in a crisis, since we get along fine without a Diet for a couple of weeks before an election anyway. The Supreme Court can say that it’s not violating Article 41 because this election scheme isn’t a law — it’s a one-time remedy. Also, though less plausibly, it might claim it’s not violating Article 47 either: Rather than establishing districts or a method of selection, it’s crafting a one-time solution based on dividing the number of seats fixed by the election law among the parties, in the absence of any election districts.

Some objections could be raised. For example, by choosing proportionality instead of, say, awarding 100 percent of the Diet seats to the party who wins the most votes, the Supreme Court violates Article 47 by choosing a method of voting. In fact, if the court clears the hurdle of Article 41 by claiming the scheme isn’t a law, then some might argue it stumbles over Article 47, which requires a law. And then the trump card: Article 41, paragraph 1 claims that the Diet is the highest organ of state power — so it’s free to ignore the Supreme Court.

That last objection isn’t so politically viable within our constitutional order. Not only is it hard to reconcile with history, it would create a voter uproar. The ruling party who made such a claim would risk getting clobbered at the next election. And two other points should silence the more technical objections.

First, the Constitution’s preamble and Article 1 declare that all sovereignty is in the Japanese people. The Diet’s power is therefore lesser than the people’s. When constitutional provisions clash, priority ought to be given to the people’s sovereignty and their ability to choose their representatives, not to the powers those representatives claim to wield — especially when the representatives hold their office illegally.

The second is more pragmatic. Even if the Supreme Court itself “violates” the Constitution, according to Article 81 it’s the only party authorized to say so. In fact, that’s the precise explanation for why we’re in the mess we’re in today. The court doesn’t currently ignore Article 47, but instead it does ignore Article 98 — and no one can tell the justices they’re wrong.

The question is, do we want the Supreme Court to violate the Constitution by continually allowing illegally elected politicians to stay in office? Or would we prefer that the court act instead to allow something closer to real democracy? Maybe not a question we’ll ever be able to ask as a practical matter. But one that needs to be asked, in principle.

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A Dutch Comfort Woman responds to the Japan-Korea agreement

December 30, 2015, 10:40 am
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Chung Sung-Jun—Getty Images
Girl Statue symbolizing the "comfort women"
in front of the Japanese Embassy
on December 28, 2015, Seoul, South Korea 

‘Comfort Women’ Have Waited a Long Time for an Apology

Time, Dec. 29, 2015

by Carol Ruff

Carol Ruff is co-producer of the documentary film 50 Years of Silence, based on her mother's memoir of the same name.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met to discuss the issue of Korean 'comfort women' in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.

My 93-year-old mother was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. She has waited too long

What wonderful news it is that South Korea and Japan have finally reached a formal deal over “comfort women,” those forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II. Japan offered an apology and a $8.3 million aid fund for the former sex slaves.


My mother, a Dutch woman, Jan Ruff O’Herne, was a former “comfort woman” in Java in 1944. When the Japanese invaded Java in 1942, my mother, who was living in Java with her Dutch colonial family, was interned in Ambarawa Prison Camp along with her mother and two younger sisters. When she was 21 years old, she was taken out and forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military, where she was repeatedly beaten and raped.

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According to historians, tens of thousands of women, including up to 300 Dutch women [current research puts the Dutch figure over 1,000], were forced to work in Japanese military brothels. My mother, who is about to turn 93, and so many of the former “comfort women” have waited a long time for an official apology and compensation. My mother was shocked and insulted in 2007 when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that enforced sexual slavery never happened and that the women were all volunteers.

My mother welcomes any agreement that might ease the pain and suffering of the “comfort women.” She is pleased that even the Abe government has acknowledged that the Japanese military was involved in creating the “comfort women” system and that the current government is aware of “responsibilities.”

I now wonder if the Japanese government will negotiate similar agreements with the victims of other countries. My mother has never received an apology, nor a letter, nor any funds “for recovering her honor and dignity and healing the psychological wounds.”

She says: “All of us deserve an apology and compensation. It is our right.”

---

On July 26, 2014, Mrs. O'Herne sent a letter to Pope Francis who was to visit South Korea and meet with several Korean Comfort Women. Although asked by the women to join them, her health prevented her from traveling to Seoul. She sent the letter below, instead.

Your Holiness, Pope Francis,

I feel very honoured to be able to send a message to you. I admire the wonderful work you do for the church and all mankind.

My name is Jeanne Ruff-O’Herne. I am a devout Catholic. During WW II I became a so-called Comfort Woman. I know you understand the immense suffering the C.W. endured at the brutal hands of the Japanese military. Like Jesus, I am able to forgive.

Only in forgiveness can healing be found. I have forgiven the Japanese for what they did to me, but I can never forget. In suffering I came very close to Christ, and good has come out for me after all the suffering.

I wish you God’s grace and blessing. Let us pray for our sins, your obedient child in Christ.

Jeanne
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Déjà vu says the Prime Minister...

December 30, 2015, 12:52 pm
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"don't you stay in such a place, but come with me
 - I will help you make a lot of money..."
The Hankyoreh
December 27, 2015

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Japan’s new history rising

December 30, 2015, 3:22 pm
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Japan's reactionary shift makes it difficult for scholarly inquiry, rational discussion, and meaningful reconciliation over wartime crimes and grievances.

San Francisco Examiner, December 29, 2015


By William Underwood, a Sacramento-based writer, completed his Ph.D. at Kyushu University while researching reparations movements for forced labor in wartime Japan. He is an APP member.

I moved to Japan for the first time in 1991, the year the Cold War ended. The wave of democratization in Asia and new focus on human rights raised expectations about unresolved issues of historical justice related to World War II.

I returned home to California in 1993, which saw the election of Japan’s first non-Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) prime minister in four decades. Morihiro Hosokawa declared in his inaugural press conference that his nation had waged “a war of aggression, a war that was wrong” — an observation both self-evident and unprecedented for a Japanese leader.

The Murayama Statement of 1995, coming 50 years after the war’s end during the brief tenure of Japan’s only socialist prime minister, still represents the clearest apology for Japanese war conduct. The LDP soon regained power in Tokyo, and the fleeting window of Japanese contrition began sliding shut.

Entering 2016, two decades of incremental historical revisionism have trickled down from Japan’s national leadership into much of Japanese society, poisoning the geopolitical well across Northeast Asia — and beyond.

This negative spillover can be seen in Japan’s stepped-up campaign against a proposed “comfort women” memorial in San Francisco, an effort that has included the LDP-linked mass mailing [by the FujiSankei communications company] of two polemical books to Bay Area lawmakers, academics and journalists [as well as members of congress, policy officials, think tankers, and journalists in Washington and across the country].

Getting Over It! Why Korea Needs to Stop Bashing Japan portrays Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 as innocuous and even benevolent. History Wars: Japan — False Indictment of the Century, published by Japan’s most influential conservative newspaper [Sankei Shimbun and written by Sankei Washington reporter Komori Yoshihisa], features a subchapter called “‘Anti-Japan Base’ in San Francisco” alleging a plot masterminded by Beijing.

Such well-connected invective makes yesterday’s diplomatic breakthrough between Japan and South Korea on the comfort women issue all the more remarkable. The foreign ministers of the two nations announced in Seoul on Monday a “final and irreversible resolution” to the long-running impasse, consisting of a new Japanese apology and promise to pay $8.3 million for the care of the dwindling number of Korean women coerced into providing sexual services to the Japanese armed forces. The agreement was unexpected because Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has for years staunchly refuted a 1993 finding by the Japanese government that its wartime military had been directly involved in organizing the forced prostitution enterprise.

Yet until recently, historical awareness at the community level within Japan was relatively enlightened.

I moved back to Japan in 1997 to teach at a university in Fukuoka, after finishing a master’s degree in political science with a thesis on the Japanese American redress movement. When I later entered the Ph.D. program at Kyushu University (a former imperial institution whose medical school had vivisected eight American airmen in 1945), I assumed a WWII-related dissertation would be out of bounds.

But Professor Ishikawa steered me straight toward the war and its lingering legacy. Kyushu had been the backbone of Japan’s wartime coal industry and, for the 11 years I lived there, Fukuoka was a center of vigorous redress activities for forced labor involving Chinese, Korean and Allied POW victims. These movements became my dissertation topic.

It turned out that Ishikawa was born — and orphaned — in the war’s final year; his schoolteacher father had been drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army and dispatched to his death in China. Ishikawa came of political age during the Japanese student movement of the 1960s, which opposed the Japan-U.S. security treaty, the Vietnam War and aspects of society seen as remnants of the prewar establishment.

I attended court hearings for ultimately unsuccessful forced labor compensation lawsuits, spearheaded by Japanese attorneys who mostly resembled my doctoral adviser’s demographic and political profile. During trips to Kyushu’s former coal fields, I met local activists including shop owners, housewives and teachers (typically retired).

The energy and commitment of progressive Japanese citizens concerning a wide range of war responsibility issues was surprising and impressive. Younger Japanese, however, were mostly absent from redress work.

The “Japan and America” course I taught confirmed that Japanese college students were, at best, a blank slate when it comes to history of the Asia Pacific War. My students and I explored the American firebombing of nearly all major Japanese cities late in the war, as well as Japan’s far longer list of transgressions.

One student, upon learning of the 25-percent fatality rate for Chinese workers at the Mitsubishi coal mine in her small hometown, reported: “I live there and didn’t know anything about it.” Another student, a female in her early 20s, more disturbingly informed me that the comfort women were “all prostitutes,” basing her conclusion on Japan’s revisionist comic books that sell briskly among all ages.

Generational turnover bodes ill for Japan’s willingness or ability to address the persistent, legitimate historical grievances of its neighbors. So does Abe’s increasingly nationalistic premiership. Most sitting cabinet members are supporters of Nippon Kaigi (or Japan Conference), an emperor-centric lobbying group that basically contends that any Japanese remorse about WWII should be limited to the outcome.

Last spring, an “Open Letter in Support of Historians in Japan” circulated globally among Japan specialists in response to rising revisionism. Last month, the LDP announced it will “scrutinize” the verdicts of the Tokyo war crimes trials of the late 1940s, said to have produced a “poorly constructed perception of history.”

Japan and South Korea’s fresh accord on the comfort women, while surely welcome, belies the reality. There will be little room for redress-receptive voices within Japan’s new history.
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Comfort Women of the Pacific deserve Justice too

December 30, 2015, 4:25 pm
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Australia must face up to its role in the lack of justice for comfort women


The Sydney Morning Herald, December 30, 2015

by Dr. Caroline Normais a lecturer in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University and author of The Japanese comfort women and sexual slavery during the China and Pacific wars (Bloomsbury, 2016).

The Australian and US governments will enthusiastically welcome Monday's agreement between Japan and South Korea that "finally and irreversibly" settles diplomatic disputation between the two countries over the wartime history of Japanese military sexual slavery.

But Australia should play no part in the international pantomime that will now be staged on the basis of Monday's agreement on comfort women.

The truth is, Australia has been performing a farce of its own about the history of the comfort women for too long already. The Japanese military organised the sexual enslavement of women in an Australian territory during the war (New Guinea), which we inexplicably failed to prosecute in trials after the war. Civic groups in Papua New Guinea today retain evidence of tens of thousands of cases of Japanese military war crimes, and cry out for assistance in approaching Japan for recognition and restitution. 
[NB:In The New Guinea Comfort Women, Japan and the Australian Connection: out of the shadows by the late-Professor Hank Nelson definitively lays out the extent of Japan's comfort women system in PNG and the abuse of the local women. He writes:
there is scattered material on perhaps 3000 comfort women in an Australian Territory, but when Australian reporters and commentators need to give the comfort women an Australian relevance, these women are never mentioned. Their experiences are not used to provide evidence on the recurring debates about whether the comfort women were coerced or free and whether they were recruited, shipped and employed by private contractors rather than the Japanese military or government.
Dr. Nelson's research is a stark contrast to the essay by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's chief political adviser and cabinet official Isao Iijima you can find below this article. Iijima claims to have asked on PNG if there were incidents of rape of local women by Japanese soldiers and he said he was assured there were none. This he finds as a contrast to the behavior of Korean troops in Vietnam. He quotes information from a new nonprofit created by the law/lobbying firm of HoganLovells for Vietnamese women who were raped for Korean troops. The firm happens also to be the Embassy of Japan's longtime lobbyists.]
Australia has never responded to these appeals, despite the enduring fact of our own historical liability for failing to protect women in an Australian jurisdiction and failing to pursue justice for them after the war.

If we want to celebrate an occasion of justice delivered the wartime comfort women, Australia should immediately commence investigation of what happened in wartime New Guinea. But for this to be politically possible, our relationship with Japan needs to be placed second to the historical justice owed to sexual slavery survivors. For their sake, I hope the pull of our allied interests will be resistible. Monday's agreement only makes the pull stronger.

Western governments have been itching for Prime Minster Abe Shinzou to deliver them some kind of pretence upon which they can rationalise their continuing military collaboration with a government in Japan that is increasingly warmongering, rightist and hostile to survivors of wartime military comfort stations. Joint military manoeuvres, arms trading and reciprocal defence agreements with Japan got awkward in recent years due to the Abe regime re-enacting too realistically the military fascism of the country's past. Now, western governments hope, the world will view Japan as having turned a corner.

The pretence established by this agreement costs Japan little and delivers its allies much. It creates the political fiction that Japan's government has ceded to the demands of sexual slavery survivors and their representative organisations in finally making amends for past wrongs. In reality, the Japanese government has done no such thing.

The agreement adds new insults to the long list of outrages the Abe-led government has perpetrated against survivors. It calls for steps towards the removal of a memorial statue to the comfort women outside Japan's embassy in Seoul, and imposes a gag on the Korean government critically mentioning Japan's history of military sexual slavery in international settings.

For more than two decades, survivors have called for the Japanese government to admit legal liability for its organisation of military sexual slavery during the China and Pacific wars. Monday's agreement admits vague responsibility but not any kind of liability: "The issue of comfort women, with an involvement of the Japanese military authorities at that time, was a grave affront to the honour and dignity of large numbers of women, and the government of Japan is painfully aware of responsibilities from this perspective."

The distinction is very important to Japan's international standing today because, by any measure, its wartime actions warrant retrospective scrutiny under international law. By the time of the war, Japan had ratified the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children, and the United Nations declared "enforced prostitution" a war crime in 1943. The Japanese government was well across its international legal obligations. Its military dressed sex slaves in nurses uniforms at the end of the war when allied liberators entered occupied areas, so legal liability was obviously a front-of-mind concern.

Monday's agreement is a step backwards compared with the Kono Statement of 1993 because "coercion" is no longer acknowledged for women entering military brothels. The agreement makes no remorseful mention of the numerous civil actions brought by Korean and Chinese survivors that Japanese government lawyers vigorously and doggedly opposed, dragging the cases out over years, even in cases where survivors sought no monetary damages. The agreement leaves in doubt the issue of history textbooks used in Japan's schools that mostly omit any mention of the history of wartime sexual slavery.

Most importantly, the agreement imposes no obligation on Japan to release to governments in Korea, China and the Asia-Pacific documents showing the nature and extent of enslavement of their female populations during the war. These countries are currently hamstrung by a lack of records, given the difficulty of assessing war crimes occurring 70 years ago against victims now mostly gone.

Without Australian help, Papua New Guinea has little chance of overcoming these hurdles, and their wartime comfort women little possibility of ever attaining justice.

-And Now for Something Completely Different-

Isao Ijima

Comfort women issue --The Achilles' Heel of South Korea


by Isao Iijima
Weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun, November 26 2015

The summit meeting between Japan and South Korea was held for the first time since the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned (from G-20 meetings). The whole development was what Prime Minister Abe expected that China would start moving on improving the relationship between China and Japan, with the help of economic slowdown, and that South Korea would follow after all (to improve ties with Japan.)

In the meantime, Director-general level talks over the "comfort women" issue have started, following the developments of the summit meeting. It's been widely reported that they would seek for new points to compromise, or they would do something by the end of year, but it's so out of the way.

Japan should reflect on its past conduct, but why does South Korea blame Japan so much in a unilateral way?

I'd like to ask if they are entitled to do so.

At the time of the Vietnam War, 312,853 of soldiers of South Korean forces were dispatched to Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. The Command Headquarters was located in the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), at that time, but various units such as White Horse, Blue Dragon, and Tiger Divisions took active parts in all over the regions.

Among of all, the worst incident (by ROK forces) was the massacre which occurred between 03 and 06 Dec 1966 in Binh Hoa city, Quang Ngai Province. 430 Vietnamese civilians were killed by members of South Korean forces. I bet no one knew this happened. This incident was referred as "Binh Hoa massacre" and 269 out of 430 were females whose ages from elderly to children including 21 pregnant women. The most tragic part of the incident was that 12 women were repeatedly sexually assaulted until they died.

Prior to this incident, there was another awful incident which happened on 26 Feb 1966 in Tay Son district, Binh Dinh Province. The South Korean forces killed about 380 people in 1 hour and assaulted many women.

-- The origin of worsening feelings towards South Korea

The comfort women issue caused by the Japanese troops has been highlighted by South Korea, but how could they say it out loud to the people in the Vietnam to whom they repeated their awful conducts?

During the WW-II, Vietnam was the part of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" due to occupation by Japan. Because of Japan's defeat at the war, Vietnam had an opportunity to be independent from France, which was a former suzerain power after a fierce battle. Vietnam has better feelings towards Japan than South Korea because of its past conduct during the Vietnam War.

Furthermore, the behaviors of Japanese troops during the wars were evaluated differently in the Pacific region where they fought against the US forces.

As you know, it is prominent in many small island states in the Pacific that they are pro-Japan nations. Do you know why? --- Before fighting against the US forces, the Japanese troops had residents evacuated from the battle field.

I accompanied Junichiro Koizumi, a former Prime Minister, when he served as Minister of Health and Welfare, to Papua New Guinea to collect remains of the war. So I asked the people there, "honestly, how were the Japanese troops at that time?" It was said that 22 thousand soldiers were dispatched to Papua New Guinea, but I was told that "even if they (Japanese troops) got drunk, no incident of rape had occurred; not even one got victimized."

I was impressed. That's why people there still respect Japan, and they are the representatives of a pro-Japan nation.

Now I look back the history, South Korean forces did terrible things during the Vietnam War. With my intelligence, more stories of badly behaved South Korea are piling up.

I would like representatives of Japan to act firmly at the Director-general level meetings.
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