New Japanese P.M. and U.S.

Dick Taffe — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:46:14 +0000

After naming his new cabinet, Japan’s prime minister-elect Naoto Kan (l.) will be sworn in and begin what the United States hopes is a tighter U.S.-Japan relationship than under his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned abruptly after a turbulent eight-month reign. Political science Professor Thomas Berger cautions that pushing the new government too hard on issues of U.S. interest could be counterproductive and possibly trigger an anti-American backlash.

“While many in Washington clearly hope that with Hatoyama gone U.S.-Japanese relations can get back to business as usual, those hopes are likely to be dashed.”

Contact Thomas Berger, 617-353-5351, tuberger@bu.edu

New Japanese P.M. quits

Dick Taffe — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:29:01 +0000

Japan’s new prime minister, Yjkio Hatoyama, squandered a historic electoral mandate in only nine months and resigned — sparking a scramble by his Democratic Party of Japan to find a new leader before July’s election. International relations Professor William Grimes, director of the Center for the Study of Asia, says Hatoyama was not prepared to create the new era of party-led politics that his party has promised when they finally ousted the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan which had been in power a half century with near-unbroken rule.

“The best that we can hope is that this episode proves to be another step toward the creation of a new centrist party or coalition that can tackle Japan’s problems pragmatically and without pandering.”

Contact William Grimes, 617-353-9420, wgrimes@bu.edu

BU Now » Japanese politics

New Japanese P.M. and U.S.

New Japanese P.M. quits