Hatoyama Ichiro’s revenge tour culminates in finally reaching the top spot as PM and in the formation of the LDP. What does the torturous road it took to get there tell us about the man, and about the politics of his time?
Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can’t say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to take up the family business (and to rise to the height of cabinet minister, something his father never did). This week is all about Ichiro’s prewar career, which culminated in a shot at the top job–that was snapped away at the last moment.
We’re starting a longform look at Japan’s most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a presence in Japan’s electoral politics from the jump. Today is all about the career of family progenitor Hatoyama Kazuo, who went from son of a minor samurai to speaker of the House of Representatives, and in the offing created one of the nation’s great political dynasties.
This week, a current events episode on the leadup and immediate aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.…
How did it all go so very wrong? Sources Funabayashi, Yoichi, and Koichi Nakano, eds. The Democratic Party of Japan…
In just three years, Ozawa Ichiro managed to guide the DPJ from defeat to one of the most smashing victories…
This week, we’re beginning a four-part retrospective on the rise and fall of Japan’s most successful postwar opposition party: The…
This week, we outline what Abe’s vision to “restore beautiful Japan” meant during his second go-round in office, why he…
This week: how did Abe Shinzo get back into the PM’s office, why did he not fall flat on his…
This week, we chronicle Abe Shinzo’s meteoric rise up the ranks of the LDP and the Koizumi cabinet, culminating in…