Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
Emperor enjoys hip-hop hurrah
Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko celebrated 20 years on the throne this week with a typical formal ceremony, including a speech from the prime minister and classical music performances.
But the elderly imperial couple then escaped the palace for an outdoor celebration that included hip-hop dancers.
Friday’s newspapers showed the Imperial couple, both 75, beaming as they watched the show from a balcony, overlooking thousands of flag-waving Japanese.
EXILE, an all-male group among Japan’s top selling artists, eschewed their usual wear for formal black suits and white ties, delivering a song and dance performance of “Flower of the Sun”.
“The sun shines without changing. It smiles at the breeze and quietly watches over everyone,” go the lyrics, composed especially for the occasion.
Legend has Japan’s imperial family, and Akihito, as descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu.
A Clinton jinx on ruling party?
Japan’s ruling coalition could be forgiven for feeling nervous over U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with the leaders of the powerful main opposition party this week.
The last time a Clinton met Japanese opposition executives, the Liberal Democratic Party lost its grip on power within weeks. That was in 1993, when then U.S. President Bill Clinton attended an embassy reception with politicians including Morihiro Hosokawa, soon to become the first non-LDP premier since 1955.
Hillary Clinton’s Asian tour brought her to Tokyo in the midst of a political storm that could see Prime Minister Taro Aso’s unpopular administration crumble almost as quickly.
Her lunchtime joint news conference with Japanese foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Tuesday, meant to underscore the importance of the bilateral alliance, was overshadowed by a simultaneous event called by Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who announced his resignation after a shambolic performance at a G7 news conference in Rome last weekend forced him to deny that he had been drunk.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary called the coincidence “unfortunate”.
Aso is highly unlikely to step down before a scheduled visit to Washington at the invitation of President Barack Obama next week. But once that is over and some stimulus and annual budget bills have been passed, analysts agree pressure on him from within his own party and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, will mount.
The $640 billion dollar question is how many US Treasury bonds can she help sell to Japan this year.
