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NEWS & LETTERS, February - March 2007Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch WeerthJapan moves RightAt the end of 2006, Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe orchestrated three important moves to the Right. First, a new education law was passed that promises to renew nationalism and “tradition.” Students will be graded on their “patriotism” and teachers disciplined for failing to make students sing Kimigayo, a national anthem identified with imperial Japan. Second, another new law changes the Defense Agency into a full-fledged Defense Ministry. For the first time since World War II, overseas missions will become a major focus. As a followup, Abe visited NATO headquarters in Brussels in January, a first for a Japanese head of state. Third, the government ended 2005 by hanging four prisoners. This ended a de facto moratorium on capital punishment that had been in effect since September 2005. Abe, like his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, has been playing on public fears over a nuclear North Korea and over China’s growing might. At home, Koizumi moved Japan toward neo-liberalism, slashing social benefits and removing impediments to capital accumulation in a desperate effort to end economic stagnation. Today, Abe faces popular anger over deepening economic inequality. |
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