Word: japanism
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...Others are not so sure. Gerald Curtis, professor of politics at Columbia University, who has studied and written about Japan for many years, recognizes that the DPJ wants to strengthen the safety net, but wonders if it has the determination to launch the sort of stimulus package that Barack Obama got through the U.S. Congress in a matter of weeks. Ozawa can come across as all politics, "his own Karl Rove," as Curtis puts it, rather than one who thinks through policies carefully...
...Prime Minister, he will have to do just that. In the past, there have been times when Ozawa's determination for Japan to be a normal country with a sense of its own interests seemed likely to make him an awkward partner for the U.S. For example, Ozawa recently suggested that under a DPJ-led government the presence of the Seventh Fleet, based at Yokosuka, would be "enough" U.S. military for East Asia - a remark that implied that all other U.S. bases in Japan should be closed. While he says that the relationship with the U.S. is "the most important...
...Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says Ozawa's "Captain Ahab - like quest" to destroy the LDP has at times led him to adopt an anti-U.S. tone, causing some collateral damage to the U.S.-Japan alliance. But every Japanese leader understands the reality of life. Should he become Prime Minister, Ozawa's determination to hold on to power, says Green, "will lead him to pursue a strong alliance with Washington...
...Right now, the key challenges facing Japan are domestic. The Japanese, in a funk since the bubble burst, know that things cannot go on like they have. "Japanese people wish for a fundamental change, but there's no one to vote for," says Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of political science at Nihon University in Tokyo. Koll says that "the real question is whether politics can be sexy again for the younger generation - something that you actually want to be involved with, not only because it affects your life but affects your future...
...that gets to the heart of it. The question is not simply whether someone who is as deeply steeped in Japanese political culture as Ozawa - who at times seems as motivated by replacing the LDP as he is by a clear analysis of where Japan should be headed - can be a sexy agent of change. It is whether Japan really wants to go through the wrenching transformation of its economy and society that the new century seems to demand...