Word: koizumis
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cars. The government instituted a goal to make 100% of its fleet of 7,000 official cars "green," meaning they get ultrahigh mileage running, at least in part, on some ultra-clean fuel such as hydrogen. When told in May that this would take seven years, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi responded with "That's too long--make it three!" Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria and Sweden also use government purchases to stimulate production of renewables. By contrast, the U.S. has no comparable federal policies to stimulate the market for green cars. A number of states, however, have set ambitious...
...Pearl Harbor's invasion of Japan also coincides with the rise of a new national mood. The hugely popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is determined to rekindle a feeling of pride after a decade of economic doldrums. His plans to revise the constitution, which renounces any offensive military capability, and to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a contentious memorial for dead war veterans (including World War II war criminals), have elicited outcries abroad but little to none at home. Two years ago the Diet restored the World War II-era Hinomaru flag and Emperor-worshiping Kimigayo anthem as official standard-bearers...
...geography, suits American purposes because it is near the Korean peninsula and the rest of Asia. It suits Tokyo's in two ways: the U.S. presence reduces Japan's need for fielding its own army, and it segregates a substantial portion of the American military machine from the mainland. Koizumi said in a recent speech in Okinawa that he wanted to "lighten the burden" on the island, and former President Bill Clinton last summer suggested the U.S. would reduce the size of America's "footprint" on Okinawa. But the new Administration in Washington maintains that Asia is its main security...
...relationship between the two countries is undergoing a transition, and a new defense arrangement was, in fact, at the top of the agenda of the weekend Bush-Koizumi summit. The big unanswered question: How to make room for a more assertive Japan? Last year, Japan's parliament approved measures to begin rethinking its constitution, including war-renouncing Article 9. On paper, the move is a baby step toward change. Yet in the context of Japan?where the merest suggestion of re-arming has traditionally been severely rebuked?the legislative step was dramatic. Once legal barriers to a full-fledged military...
...quietly encourages the idea of a military build-up because that would enable the U.S. to shift some of its hardware and staff elsewhere. The rest of Asia, particularly China, would react differently. Koizumi has already perturbed neighbors by revealing a conservative nationalist streak. He has said he'll visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, a war memorial where veterans, including some convicted war criminals, are entombed. He has also refused to stop the publication of textbooks that whitewash Japan's aggression in World...