{"id":14130,"date":"2016-07-31T14:03:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T00:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14130"},"modified":"2016-07-31T14:03:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T00:03:13","slug":"japan-times-jbc-column-99-for-abe-it-will-always-be-about-the-constitution-aug-1-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14130","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC column 99, “For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution”, Aug 1, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
\n\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution<\/strong>
\n By Debito Arudou<\/strong>
\n The Japan Times, JUST BE CAUSE column 99, August 1, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nobody here on the Community page has weighed in on Japan\u2019s Upper House election last July 10, so JBC will have a go.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The conclusion first: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a hat trick this election, and it reaffirmed his mandate to do whatever he likes. And you\u2019re probably not going to like what that is.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Of those three victories, the first election in December 2012 was a rout of the leftist Democratic Party of Japan<\/a> and it thrust the more powerful Lower House of Parliament firmly into the hands of the long-incumbent Liberal Democratic Party under Abe. The second election in December 2014 further normalized Japan\u2019s lurch to the far right<\/a>, giving the ruling coalition a supermajority of 2\/3 of the seats in the Lower House.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

July\u2019s election delivered the Upper House to Abe<\/a>. And how. Although a few protest votes found their way to small fringe leftist parties, the LDP and parties simpatico with Abe\u2019s policies picked up even more seats. And with the recent defection of Diet member Tatsuo Hirano from the opposition, the LDP alone has a parliamentary majority for the first time in 27 years<\/a>, and a supermajority of simpaticos. Once again the biggest loser was the leftist Democratic Party, whose fall from power three years ago has even accelerated.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s it then: Abe has achieved his goals. And with that momentum he\u2019s going to change the Japanese Constitution.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Amazingly, this isn\u2019t obvious to some observers. The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, The Economist<\/a> (London), and Abe insiders still cheerfully opined that Abe\u2019s primary concern remains the economy \u2014 that constitutional reform will remain on the backburner. But some media made similar optimistic predictions after Abe\u2019s past electoral victories…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2016\/07\/31\/issues\/abe-will-always-constitution\/<\/a><\/p>\n

===============<\/p>\n

Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0We are celebrating Debito.org’s 20th Anniversary in 2016, so please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JBC: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a hat trick this election, and it reaffirmed his mandate to do whatever he likes. And you\u2019re probably not going to like what that is.<\/p>\n

Of those three victories, the first election in December 2012 was a rout of the leftist Democratic Party of Japan and it thrust the more powerful Lower House of Parliament firmly into the hands of the long-incumbent Liberal Democratic Party under Abe. The second election in December 2014 further normalized Japan\u2019s lurch to the far right, giving the ruling coalition a supermajority of 2\/3 of the seats in the Lower House.<\/p>\n

July\u2019s election delivered the Upper House to Abe. And how. Although a few protest votes found their way to small fringe leftist parties, the LDP and parties simpatico with Abe\u2019s policies picked up even more seats. And with the recent defection of Diet member Tatsuo Hirano from the opposition, the LDP alone has a parliamentary majority for the first time in 27 years, and a supermajority of simpaticos. Once again the biggest loser was the leftist Democratic Party, whose fall from power three years ago has even accelerated.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s it then: Abe has achieved his goals. And with that momentum he\u2019s going to change the Japanese Constitution.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, this isn\u2019t obvious to some observers. The Wall Street Journal, The Economist (London), and Abe insiders still cheerfully opined that Abe\u2019s primary concern remains the economy \u2014 that constitutional reform will remain on the backburner. But some media made similar optimistic predictions after Abe\u2019s past electoral victories…
\nRead the rest at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2016\/07\/31\/issues\/abe-will-always-constitution\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20,5,4,14,13,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-history","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-media","category-unsustainable-japanese-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}