Eideard

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Touting himself as America’s “first Pacific president,” President Obama called on his own connections with Asia on Saturday as he pledged a renewed engagement with Asia Pacific nations based on “an enduring and revitalized alliance between the United States and Japan…”

Earlier, Obama told a packed house at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall that all Americans should know that what happens in Asia “has a direct effect on our lives at home.”

“This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods,” he said. “And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process.

“This is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world, and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. And there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers and developing nations of the Asia Pacific…”

“There must be no doubt: As America’s first Pacific president, I promise you that this Pacific nation will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world,” he said.

He stressed that the United States was not interested in containing the emerging economic growth in China.

“The rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations,” he said. “And so, in Beijing and beyond, we will work to deepen our strategic and economic dialogue…”

“We see it as a relationship where we’re obviously going to have differences, where we are going to be competitors in certain respects,” he said. “But we want to maximize areas where we can work together, because the global challenges will simply not be met if we don’t…”

This only requires 36-hour days, 3 clones and 4 sets of rechargeable batteries. In addition to respect for – and a willingness to understand – cultures very different from the United States.

Thousands of people have protested on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa demanding the removal of a US military base there.

The local mayor called on new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama “to put an end to Okinawa’s burden and ordeal”.

Japan and the US agreed in 2006 to relocate the Futenma base from an urban area to reclaimed land but the PM’s election has rekindled opposition…

Japan’s new government has expressed a determination to have a less subservient relationship with the US.

Organisers of the protest claimed 21,000 people took part.

That’s, uh, about 14 times the number of Michelle Bachman’s anti-healthcare teabaggers – covered by all the US talking heads, last week.

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Leaders of East Asian countries have laid the groundwork for a European Union-style bloc that will cover half the world’s population…

The proposal for the so-called East Asian Community project was mooted by Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister, to fellow leaders at the summit, saying the region should aspire to “lead the world”.

Japan is not a member of Asean, but if the project materialises, it – along with South Korea, China, India, Australia and New Zealand – would be part of ASEAN, which includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other Asean member states are Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines and Cambodia.

Severino said a more cohesive Asia would have a bigger role in global affairs, especially after the region overcame the global economic crisis more quickly than the West. “It’s not just Asia coming together economically but politically as well. The more integrated you are, the more forceful you are,” Severino said.

ASEAN is already committed to setting up a single Southeast Asian free trade zone by 2015, creating a bloc with a total GDP of more than $1 trillion.

Asean still has major issues to resolve given its diverse membership, our correspondent said.

“There’s a huge difference in income between the countries. Singapore is the richest with a GDP a hundred and fifty times higher than Myanmar, the poorest in the bloc,” she said.

“Politically, the differences are even more diverse,” Vaessen said.

“You have democracies, you have monarchies, you have all kinds of different regimes in the region and it’s very difficult to find some kind of common ground.”

The easy bit is that unlike many Western politicians, there aren’t requirements on politics, morality and God that have to be agreed to before commerce is supported. They haven’t too many Republicans.

In trendy neighborhoods of Tokyo customers are lining up for vitamin injections that promise to improve health and beauty.

These intravenous vitamin “drips” are part of the latest quick-fix, health fad catching on in Japan: the IV cafe. Each drip pack contains saline solution and specific vitamins and minerals to target a particular health ailment or beauty concern.

There are 10 different varieties to choose from at Tenteki. The “orange” variety touts anti-aging properties, loaded with antioxidants. The “placenta pack” is said to help rejuvenate and ease muscle stiffness.

Prices range from $20 to $30 per injection, and nurses see about 30 to 40 people each day. Their most common patients are Japanese businessmen who work in the same office building.

Registered nurses and doctors administer the drips at Tenteki, but there’s no conclusive medical evidence to back up the health claims.

Many nutritionists actually caution against using injectable vitamin supplements because the quantities are not regulated.

How close are we coming to the sort of decadent sci-fi world where middle-class fops have their bodies and lives tailored to fit whatever appearance is fashionable. We already have the nip-and-tuck brigade. And now the injectable energy, clear thought and executive brains on demand.

How about some affordable – and legalized – calming agents for the rest of us drones.

I’m not certain what this says about the constitution of Windows 7 – but, it doesn’t lend much confidence about heart health in Japan.

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Japan’s has confirmed that its refuelling ships will be withdrawn from the Indian Ocean in January – the first real sign that the new Tokyo administration is honouring its election pledge to break free from decades of subservience to US foreign policy…

Since 2001 Japanese vessels have provided fuel and water to US and allied warships in support of the war effort. Hatoyama, whose Democratic party of Japan (DPJ) has consistently opposed the mission, will instead attempt to ease US concerns with a raft of humanitarian measures. He hopes to have a comprehensive plan in place before Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo on 12 November for a two-day visit.

“We believe that civilian support for the people’s livelihood in that country, such as agricultural reconstruction, will lead to a fundamental solution to what constitutes the basis of terrorism,” said the government’s chief spokesman, Hirofumi Hirano.

Japan’s determination to offer new, non-military solutions to Afghanistan’s problems was evident at the weekend when the foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, made a surprise visit to Kabul to discuss long-term reconstruction with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. Japan has already committed itself to paying the Afghan police force’s salaries for six months and is funding several education projects that it hopes will weaken the lure of the Taliban among disaffected Afghan men.

Although the US and Britain have urged Japan to extend its refuelling mission beyond January, Washington has indicated it will accept a withdrawal in return for deeper involvement in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Among the extra measures being considered by Japan, which has pledged $2bn in aid over the last eight years, is job training for former Taliban fighters…

Further evidence of the shift in Tokyo’s foreign policy priorities came last week when Hatoyama met his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, Lee Myung-bak and Wen Jiabao, in Beijing for talks on the formation of an “east Asian community” inspired by the European Union. The leaders said they would explore the idea of a free-trade pact and co-operate more closely in other areas, including climate change and sustainable growth.

Nations which stand to benefit from cooperation and commerce are talking about developing forms and protocols for doing just that. I guess some people think that more beneficial than waging war.

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Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, began the delicate task of forming a new government this morning, hours after inflicting a devastating defeat on the ruling Liberal Democratic party [LDP].

The euphoria of the night before, when his Democratic Party of Japan [DPJ] secured 308 out of 480 seats in the lower house, quickly gave way to the business of addressing record unemployment and deflation as Japan struggles to emerge from its worst recession since the second world war.

Questions are already being asked about his government’s ability to end the bureaucracy’s stranglehold on economic policy and to focus on the interests of consumers rather than those of powerful corporations.

Japan’s politicians set the bar for being in the pocket of their Zaibatsu corporations. A standard for corruption our Republicans/Democrats still strive to reach.

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DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama places red rose by each winning candidate
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The Democratic Party of Japan won the Lower House election by a landslide Sunday and was poised to grab more than 300 seats in the 480-seat chamber.

The victory by the main opposition party would end more than half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.It would also usher in DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama, 62, as the new prime minister by mid-September…

Flush with victory, DPJ executives started full-fledged preparations for launching a new administration in the evening, party sources said, adding that talks were also planned with its two allies — the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) — on forming a coalition government.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Taro Aso said he will step down as LDP president to “take responsibility” for his party’s defeat. An election to pick his successor as LDP chief will be held soon, he said. LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda also said on NHK the party’s top three executives have all expressed their intention to resign to Aso…

DPJ deputy chief Ichiro Ozawa declined comment before the poll results were complete but said “there is nothing (for voters) to worry” about concerning an impending change in government. “We’d like to steadily implement what we have promised to the nation,” Ozawa told NHK.

Pre-election media polls showed the DPJ leading the LDP thanks to strong populist tail winds propelled in part by frustration with years of stagnation and mismanagement under the LDP.

Owing to strong voter interest, final turnout could reach 69.52 percent, exceeding the 67.51 percent in the previous general election in 2005.

I wonder how honorable the LDP will be in defeat. They could always follow the Republican model and work to impede adoption of serious legislative changes – and rely on the cowardly lions of the media to stump up reporting of their own version of teabagging.

Corruption and deceit are difficult habits to leave behind.

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Japan’s prime minister expressed deep regret over the suffering his country inflicted on Asian countries during World War II in a solemn ceremony Saturday that marked the 64th anniversary of Tokyo’s surrender.

Prime Minister Taro Aso joined some 4,800 bereaved families to pay respect to 3.1 million Japanese war dead — 2.3 million soldiers and 800,000 civilians — at the Nihon Budokan hall in Tokyo. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko also attended the ceremony, leading a one-minute silence at noon.

“Our country inflicted tremendous damage and suffering on many countries, particularly people in Asia. As a representative of the Japanese people, I humbly express my remorse for the victims, along with deep regret,” Aso said in a speech at the nationally televised ceremony.

The prime minister vowed that Japan would never repeat the tragedy.

Emperor Akihito — whose father Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in a radio broadcast on Aug. 15, 1945 — said he hoped Japan would never again wage a war…

The prime minister did not attend a controversial war shrine located near the national cemetery. Yasukuni Shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese soldiers who died in wars from the late 1800s until 1945, including convicted war criminals.

Pacifists and the victims of Japanese aggression abhor Yasukuni as a glorification of past militarism and a symbol of Japan’s conquest in Asia, including the invasion and occupation of China and Korea.

Two former Prime Ministers continued their devotion to war and imperialism by visiting Yasukuni. Their leadership of the right wing of Japan’s dominant Liberal Democratic Party maintains the growing split in that party – in the face of declining fortunes.

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, has called for the construction of a non-religious war memorial to replace the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for official visits. Someplace that doesn’t include a niche for war criminals.

UPDATE: Looks like the election rocked.

Yukio Hatoyama at the Hiroshima Peace Museum
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The opposition Democratic party’s expected victory in Japan’s 30 August general election is creating a new element of uncertainty in the Asia-Pacific region, already unsettled by North Korea’s war drums and China’s assertiveness. The ruling conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP) has held power for 52 of the past 53 years. It is the political linchpin of the US-Japan alliance. Now, largely due to lamentable domestic policy failures, opinion polls suggest it is all but dead in the water.

The centre-left Democratic party of Japan (DPJ), ahead by up to 20 points in some surveys, is committed, on paper at least, to a radical reappraisal of Japan’s postwar defence partnership with Washington. Its manifesto pledges to “re-examine the role of the US military in the security of the Asia-Pacific region and the significance of US bases in Japan”. Questions have been raised about the continuing presence of roughly 50,000 American troops on Japanese soil and more broadly, about Japan’s military support for US operations in Iraq and now in Afghanistan.

At the same time, DPJ leaders are advocating improved ties with former adversaries, notably China and South Korea, strained during the 2001-2006 premiership of Junichiro Koizumi. Party chief Yukio Hatoyama has vowed not to follow Koizumi in paying respects to Japan’s war dead at the Yasukini shrine in Tokyo, seen in Beijing as a symbol of unrepentant Japanese militarism.

Speaking in Tokyo today at a Thomson Reuters conference, Katsuya Okada, the DPJ’s second-in-command, said the party wanted an equal relationship with the Obama administration. “There are various issues of concern between Japan and the US. It is necessary … to work on changing systems based on trust,” he said. Japan lacked independence, he complained. “If Japan just follows what the US says, then I think as a sovereign nation that is very pathetic…”

Nor will the US voluntarily relax its close embrace, just because some new faces show up at Tokyo head office next month. According to Harvard professor Joseph Nye, Washington attaches high priority to its Japanese alliance, “a central feature of stability in east Asia”. Shared concerns ranging from China to trans-national pandemics, terrorism and the threats posed by failed states would bind the US and Japan more closely than ever in the 21st century, he predicted.

It’s a lesson other useful long-time US allies, such as Britain, have learned over the years. Whatever DPJ leaders may fondly think, there’s no escaping America when it doesn’t want to be escaped.

I happen to think Nye is wrong – and Tisdall has been stuck into reading his own copy and that of his peers in the British government just a bit too long.

I think the Japanese can come up with as much courage as, say, South Asian nations or Indochina.

UPDATE: The DPJ came up big winners.