Redstate

The fact that PM Koizumi was in office forever was the anomaly in Japanese politics. A musical chairs of LDP prime ministers would mean we're back to normal.

And yeah, that photo is a big part of Koizumi's legacy. As far as I can tell, what he did during his rule was gradually, slowly expand the boundaries of what kind of military and patriotic activity is acceptable to the Japanese public.

Abe and his cabinet were taken down by the usual corruption of one party rule, combined with some people trying to speed up Japan's rearmament more than the Japanese public's pacifist tendencies will allow.

So we'll see a new PM, a new cabinet, and probably a new resignation in a year or so, thanks to the same old corruption of one party rule.

And personally I'd rather it stay that way. The Liberal Democrats are the one major party interested in Japanese rearmament. For crying out loud, the Social Democratic party leader got into an argument with German Chancellor Merkel during her visit, over a Japanese refueling mission in the Indian ocean in support of NATO in Afghanistan..

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Reality: Thompson/Romney Dream: Santorum/Watts.

may try to answer the following questions. Cause like Moe, I don't qualify. But strangely enough, I haven't seen these questions asked and answered so far, while the news has been in for the better part of a day. (want real hot news? Russia's PM is out as well)

Japanese politics 201:
- since there political deadlock is reported, how does the Japanese system adresses it? We just had elections for part of the upper house, IIRC the next part isn't due for a few years, so that leaves the lower house an the PM as possible venues for change, right?
- If it's the lower house, will we see new elections (polls please) or an expanded coalition (which might serve to give an upper house majority again)
- If it's (just) the PM, will replacing one person make much of a difference, both internally and externally? When Koizumi left and Abe came in, it didn't matter much externally, except for the perpetual war history issue. No idea about internally, and it were mainly internal problems that brought us here, if the reporting is correct.
- Who's the heir apparent? Or is there none, and will Japan be subjected to a good ol' dose of party infighting? Any noteworhty people waiting for an opportunity?

Bonusquestion: predict if (and if yes, when, and if not, why) Japan will be ordering actual planes for those 'Destroyers'.

The Japanese government has assumed a support role for the United States military that includes a very substantial "submarine warfare" role to counter the growing Chinese threat. Under the Japanese constitution, their military is allowed to engage in anti-submarine warfare activities unabated. The picture you are seeing is a manifestation of that capability to much increased levels. We have all seen "The Hunt for Red October" and the use of aircraft and helicopters to hunt submarines in that movie. Though, like any movie, the details are warped to make a good movie, the principle of using aircraft for this activity is still accurate.

Yes, the images of Japanese carriers from WWII still sends chills because of their effectiveness, but I can assure you that they would not be building it without the US being consulted, and it fit into a "constitutionally" permitted role.

Do I have any special knowledge about this matter? No, I do not. What I do know is based upon what I learned while stationed there. What I learned while I was there includes what they have been doing (publicly) and what they are permitted to do (constitutionally). If you are in Japan, this is common fare for the news to discuss these very matters because of the political ramifications involved.

Take this for what it is worth. It is my thinking on the situation on the ship.

As far as the resignation is concerned, it is customary to accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong by resigning. I do believe that something may have gone terribly wrong somewhere and it just has not hit the news yet, and he is already accepting responsibility for it and not waiting for the PR disaster to break in the news.

Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("An argument is a sequence of statements aimed at demonstrating the truth of an assertion.); }

...on the drawing board, designed in such a way that they conform to Article 9.

We'll live to see them, and when we do, they'll be as advanced and as capable as any ship afloat.

The Japanese government understands that it must keep the Straits of Malacca open and the Chinese from fully investing Taiwan. This is a matter of Japanese national security and prosperity. Japan's independence cannot exist at the sufferance of Beijing. The U.S. is one thing; the Americans are not a local, historic, Asian enemy.

The Chinese are another thing altogether.

"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it"-Winston Churchill

of competing factions, and the various faction leaders "get their turn" as Prime Minister when the time is right. The factions are more personal than ideological, sort of like the old boss-run machines of the pre-McGovern Democratic party in the US.

Unlike the US, though, where it takes an act of God to get a politician to resign, resignations are part of the political culture and facilitate the desired rotation of faction leaders. Another scandal, a new PM, another scandal, a new PM-yada, yada, yada!

I thought our response to the whole Korean Nuke test should have been to give Japan one of our Carriers.

Problem solved *wink*