In the latest stop in his regional tour, Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya visited Australia for talks with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.Most of the headlines have focused on the exchange of words over whaling — the polite phrasing seems to be that Okada and Rudd had a "frank discussion", and Rudd …
Tag: Okada Katsuya
Okada acknowledges past wrongs in Seoul
The Hatoyama government's campaign to revitalize Japan's bilateral relationships in Asia continues, with Foreign Okada Katsuya's visiting South Korea for the first time as foreign minister for meetings with President Lee and other senior officials.While Americans are focused on celebrating what is being called the fiftieth anniversary of the US-Japan alliance this year, a more …
A new alliance in the making
Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya has arrived in Hawaii for a Tuesday morning meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Following weeks of bilateral acrimony, the two will discuss negotiations to strengthen bilateral cooperation on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the US-Japan mutual security treaty, signed fifty years ago this month.For the moment …
Middle-power diplomacy in New York
It may be too early to declare that the Obama administration and the Hatoyama cabinet have successfully managed the transition from LDP to DPJ, but this week was clearly a step in the right direction.At the start of the week, Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in New York City, …
Okada diplomacy
Not even a week into the Hatoyama government, it is clear that Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya will be a force to be reckoned with in the new cabinet.Even before the government formed, Okada raised the alarm that the new national strategy bureau would encroach on his turf in foreign policy making — prompting Hatoyama Yukio …
The first day of the new era in Japanese politics
The DPJ wasted no time following the election of Hatoyama Yukio as prime minister Wednesday.His cabinet lineup established, the DPJ-led government immediately set to work establishing a new relationship between the cabinet, DPJ backbenchers, and the bureaucracy.Regarding the DPJ, its internal organizations, and its numerous backbenchers, the new government announced several measures to strip the …
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Transition troubles
The work of picking a cabinet is done, said Hatoyama Yukio Sunday. He is scheduled to meet with Ozawa Ichiro Monday to finalize the lineup.It seems that Ozawa and Hatoyama are in disagreement over the appointment of Fujii Hirohisa as finance minister, perhaps because Fujii — despite having been close with Ozawa throughout the 1990s, …
Building the inner cabinet
In the transition plan released by the DPJ's committee to prepare for government in September 2003, the party stressed that in the first five days after winning a general election, the victorious DPJ would convene a transition team that would quickly put into place the rudiments of a new system for governing.Critical to this new …
Will Hatoyama be first among equals?
After appointing Ozawa Ichiro as the DPJ's secretary-general and Hirano Hirofumi as chief cabinet secretary, Hatoyama Yukio has announced his intended choices for other senior posts, none of which comes as a surprise.Okada Katsuya, a former party leader and runner-up to Hatoyama in the May party leadership election, is the incoming prime minister's pick for …
Hatoyama, changing his mind, will appoint senior officials quickly
After suggesting at the start of the week that he would hold off on announcing appointments, Hatoyama Yukio, a day after announcing that Ozawa Ichiro would serve as secretary-general of the DPJ, has announced his chief cabinet secretary, Hirano Hirofumi, a five-term representative from Osaka.Hirano is one of Hatoyama's three closest lieutenants, along with Ozawa …
Continue reading Hatoyama, changing his mind, will appoint senior officials quickly
Tobias S. Harris 