Assessing the First Two Years of the Abe Administration

Abe Shinzo: Japan’s Most Consequential Prime Minister since Yoshida Shigeru

Introduction to Special Forum Abe Shinzo: Japan’s Most Consequential Prime Minister since Yoshida Shigeru   The year 2015 promises to be a milestone in Japan’s transition from a defeated state remaining on the defensive over its history with a low strategic profile, to a proud and proactive force for the reorganization of Asia within the US-led international community. Abe Shinzo i..

Editorial Staff
February 05,2015

Abe Unleashed? Hardly

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his LDP chalked up a third consecutive election victory and extended their hold on the Diet for two more years with a convincing win in the snap Lower House election held in late December. While the victory consolidates the LDP’s grip on power and confirms that Abe is the real leader of the party—for now—, it is hard to call the results a mandate for hi..

Brad Glosserman
Abenomics , collective self-defense , Japan-US alliance , nuclear policy , Shinzo Abe , Territorial Disputes
February 05,2015

Assessing Abe’s Economic Agenda: Abenomics, TPP, and Domestic Politics

It is premature to evaluate the success of Abenomics and TPP, two signature items of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo during his first two years in office, but it is possible to offer an update on his struggle with domestic opponents to make possible a breakthrough on both of these objectives. Looking back on the elections at the end of 2014, we find evidence that he was striving to solidify support for ..

Terada Takashi*
Abenomics , FTA , FTAAP , JA Zenchu , Shinzo Abe , TPP
February 05,2015

The Foreign Policy of Abe Shinzo: Strategic Vision and Policy Implementation

On January 5, 2015, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo reaffirmed that his government will continue to pursue a “proactive contribution to international peace” in his first press conference of the new year. When asked about the statement he is anticipated to issue at the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in relation to his government’s view on Japan’s past history, Abe confirmed that it w..

James Przystup , Tatsumi Yuki*
ASEAN , collective self-defense , Futenma base , India , Japan-US alliance , ODA , Territorial Disputes
February 05,2015

US-Japan Relations under Abe Shinzo

When Abe Shinzo became prime minister for a second time, the reaction in Washington was decidedly mixed. In both the Obama administration and the policy/intellectual community of Japan-watchers, two sets of expectations and two sets of concerns quickly emerged. The first expectation was that Abe would focus on reviving the Japanese economy, as he had promised after assuming the LDP presidency on S..

Glen S. Fukushima
Abenomics , Futenma base , Japan-US alliance , rebalance , Shinzo Abe , TPP , Yasukuni Shrine