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July 13, 2007. Volume 03, Number 25Click here for a transcript of this program.Greetings again from Spring Valley in the Midlands of South Carolina. I
will be traveling for the next few weeks. So, Japan Considered Podcast
postings until mid-August will depend entirely upon my access to WiFi
connections to the Internet. Both to collect political and
international news from Japan, and to upload the programs produced from
the information collected. I hope you keep checking back, though. I
haven't "Pod-Faded," as Scott Fletcher used to say.This week we
look briefly at a couple of significant international issues. First,
Japan's role in the international effort to persuade North Korea to
abandon its nuclear weapons development. Then at publication of the
Ministry of Defense's first Defense White Paper. With focus on the
section devoted to analysis of China's military development.Then
we return to the national political scene, and consider the run-up to
the July 29th Upper House election. The official campaign period began
yesterday, Thursday the 12th. How will Japan's potential voters
respond. There is near-unanimous agreement among Japan's political
press, Punditocracy, and Tenurate that the LDP under Shinzo Abe's
leadership is headed for a loss. A big loss. As one important issue, we
consider the origins and significance of SIA's lost pension payments,
and what is to be done. |