Word: ldp
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Fukuda's likely successor is Taro Aso, the popular former Minister of Foreign Affairs. The hope is that Aso can not only rekindle the office's appeal but, much more importantly, help break gridlock in parliament, where the LDP heads a coalition in the lower house of the Japanese Diet. Fukuda reshuffled his Cabinet last month to install Aso in the No. 2 spot as the secretary general of Liberal Democratic Party...
...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 up in parliament by resurgent opposition politicians. Recent polls have put Fukuda's public approval rating at about 25% - lower than Abe's before he resigned after less than a year in office. "When [Fukuda's] approval breaks below 20%, he's really in deep trouble," says...
...then there are the troublesome T's: Taiwan and Tibet. "Clearly Hu Jintao would like the Japanese to line up and say that they oppose Taiwan's independence, but there's too much opposition to that from within the LDP," says Curtis of Columbia University. Experts expect Fukuda will go no further than stressing the importance of a peaceable resolution. While Fukuda may be able to manage the dialogue on Taiwan, it will be harder to control the Japanese public. A rash of pro-Tibet demonstrations by the country's Buddhists could embarrass Hu, who has been trying to quell...
...takes time to settle things," says Jun Iio, a professor of government at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. But how long does Japan have? While some might chalk up the gridlock to the nascent stages of an emerging two-party democracy, others blame both the LDP and the DPJ for a lack of concern over issues that have both domestic and global ramifications...
...Parliament's track record so far doesn't seem 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...