From The Japan Times: Veteran lawmaker Koichi Kato, victim of an arson attack on one of his houses last week following his criticism of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi‘s visits to Yasukuni Shrine, is warning that signs of “dangerous” nationalism are increasing in Japan. Kato, a former secretary general of the dominant Liberal Democratic Party, also […]

From The International Herald Tribune, via A Glimpse of the World blog: Junichiro Koizumi has gotten one thing supremely right throughout his long tenure as prime minister of Japan. Tragedy, to paraphrase him, inevitably follows periods of isolation. Koizumi has expended great energy dragging Japan out of its predisposition to aloofness, pushing for a greater […]