Word: fukuda
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...than with paying respects in a formal, stylized setting. In that sense, China President Hu Jintao's upcoming trip to Japan - the first by a Chinese head of state since 1998 - is expected to be run of the mill. The meticulously scripted itinerary calls for Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to play host as Hu strolls through Yokohama's Chinatown, visits temples in Nara and dines at the Imperial Palace. On May 8 at Waseda University in Tokyo, Fukuda's alma mater, the two leaders are scheduled to play Ping-Pong...
...gracious host would throw the match, but Fukuda might want to think twice before dropping his paddle: a display of national athletic prowess against an old rival might be just the tonic he needs to revive his moribund prime ministership. Since taking over from the hapless administration of Shinzo Abe in September 2007, Fukuda's team has managed to look even more inept and out of touch than Abe's on issues ranging from Japan's faltering economy to the appointment of a new central-bank governor. Initiatives by Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have been bottled...
...news is that Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may ask Hu for a new panda. (Japan has eight pandas on loan from China.) The sad passing of Ling Ling could thus become an opportunity for the Chinese President to dramatically improve ties between Tokyo and Beijing. He is already getting the full VIP treatment during his May 6 to 10 tour. Hu will meet with Fukuda, then with the Emperor and Empress, and visit Yokohama's Chinatown as well as the historic city of Nara and the financial center of Osaka. Symbolically, it is already an important trip...
...promising. But if pain is any indication of progress then perhaps the LDP and the DPJ are onto something. Aside from deciding on the next BOJ governor, the issue of Japan's gasoline tax has come up and gone - and will likely come up again if the LDP and Fukuda's government have their way. Since 1974, those who purchase gasoline have paid a 25-yen ($0.25) per liter tax. But the law that enforced the surcharge ended on March 31. The Fukuda government submitted a revision to the tax reform law on Feb. 29 in order to extend...
...Perhaps the activism of the DPJ is slowly working. Fukuda appears to be starting to make concessions: for instance, the DPJ has recently indicated they could look favorably upon the nomination of deputy governor Shirakawa for the top seat. And on the gasoline surcharge, Fukuda announced on March 27 that he would free up the gas tax revenues now dedicated to building roads for general spending from fiscal 2009 to 2010, in an attempt to break the deadlock over the gasoline surcharge issue - although it didn't work. Neither did the proposal of Hiroshi Watanabe, the person Fukuda nominated...