Word: aso
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ozawa's support in the polls when compared with Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso - the third lackluster holder of that office since Junichiro Koizumi resigned in 2006 - the dim view taken of his alleged role in the Nishimatsu scandal illuminates the paradox of Ozawa's place in Japanese politics. He is at one and the same time the single most radical critic of the Japanese postwar political establishment (it was his decision to bolt the LDP in 1993 that led to its only period out of office) and a supreme exemplar...
...Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned this week that the U.S. recession is deepening and Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said there is "no bottom in sight" for his sinking country, many investors turned to China for a measure of hope. There have been glimmers of stability recently in the world's third-largest economy, and Asian stock markets briefly climbed midweek amid reports that Beijing would announce additional stimulus measures on top of the $586 billion it has already said it will spend to revive its slowing economy...
...fear is that additional recession-fighting measures planned by the Aso government will be sidetracked by Japan's chronic legislative infighting and revolving political leadership (the country is now on its fifth finance chief and third Prime Minister in two years). Japan's parliament, the Diet, has for the past several weeks been debating legislation surrounding a supplementary budget package that includes a controversial $21.7 billion handout to the Japanese public aimed at boosting consumer spending. But DPJ politicians - smelling blood in anticipation of general elections, which must be held by September but could come before then - might choose...
...Absent an economic miracle, it's possible Japan's political landscape will change dramatically in the next several months. The LDP has been Japan's ruling party for most of the past 50 years. But if deteriorating conditions force Aso to dissolve the Diet's lower house soon, an exasperated Japanese electorate could hand the DPJ enough seats in a general election to take control of the Diet and choose a new Prime Minister. Aso may not survive as the nation's chief long enough to suffer that humiliation, though. "There's no optimistic short-term scenario for Japan," says...
...embattled PM may yet have one last hurrah. As the Nakagawa fiasco was playing out in Rome, Hillary Clinton was visiting Tokyo on her first overseas tour as U.S. Secretary of State. Clinton announced that Aso on Feb. 24 will visit Washington to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. That Aso was selected as the first foreign leader to visit Obama's White House offers a ray of hope that the world's two largest economies are cooperating to solve the economic crisis. But the honor was hardly an unvarnished vote of confidence. During her Japan stopover, Clinton took...