"Japan politician steps out of shadows; As party leader falters, Ozawa flexes muscles" by Blaine Harden, Washington Post | January 17, 2010
TOKYO - Ichiro Ozawa has prowled the back rooms of power in Tokyo for more than four decades. Last year, he masterminded an election victory that crushed the political party that ruled Japan for nearly half a century.
Yet after the historic vote, as his Democratic Party of Japan took power, Ozawa chose not to join the government. Instead, he served officially as his party’s secretary general and unofficially as its all-powerful political wizard. The local press dubbed him the “shadow shogun.’’
Now, with the new government stumbling, its poll numbers sinking, and another national election looming, Ozawa, 67, has stepped out of the shadows and is beginning to wave his wand....
Something I more or less predicted since the election.
Here is why:
In a remarkable display of foreign-policy chutzpah, Ozawa last month led a 645-member, five-airplane pilgrimage of lawmakers and other leaders on a visit to Beijing, where he met with Premier Hu Jintao of China.
Oh, and the U.S. and it's CIA newspaper here (the Washington Post) can't like that!
Thus the choice word of chutzpah, huh?
Ozawa’s party has questioned the long-held traditional alliance between Japan and the United States, with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama refusing to follow through on relocation of a US Marine base on Okinawa sought by Washington....
Thus the strain, and thus the focus of the AmeriKan newspapers when it comes to any article about Japan now.
Japan’s two most influential newspapers - which are not friendly with the new government - have detected a new form of two-headed rule.
Related: Six Jewish Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Apparently, they own Japanese media.
The Yomiuri newspaper calls it “dual-governance.’’ The Asahi suggests “there is another prime minister outside the cabinet.’’
Sounds like Dick Cheney during he Bush administration, doesn't it?
Japan’s election schedule virtually guarantees that Ozawa’s relative influence will expand into midsummer, when there is a vote for the upper house of Parliament. Ozawa’s party has to gain seven seats in that 242-member chamber to win a majority, which would give it commanding control over parliament for several years. The party dominates the lower house, and analysts here agree that Ozawa is likely to lead his party to another sizable win.
There is, however, a legal roadblock confronting Ozawa. The Tokyo prosecutor’s office wants to question him about $4.31 million from his political fund that was used to buy real estate in Tokyo six years ago. The investigation is an echo of a fund-raising investigation that last year forced Ozawa to resign as head of the party and forfeit his chance of becoming prime minister. In that case, as in the current one, Ozawa said his aides acted without his knowledge.
Translation: We will get you any way we can.
Of course, can't use the military to overthrow the guy since, well, we are the military in Japan. Obviously couldn't rig the last election, so it's on to the scandal methods and means through the controlled press institutions.
This winter, the rise of Ozawa’s public profile has roughly coincided with the falling poll numbers and perceived leadership failures of Hatoyama, who took over the Democratic Party of Japan last summer after Ozawa stepped down as party leader....
In Washington, Ozawa is viewed with a mixture of alarm and understanding.
Some in the Obama administration portray him as a Rasputin-like character plotting to push Japan away from the United States. Others understand him as an old-time politician, more interested in winning elections than in international affairs....
Who lost Japan, America?
Related: Japan Ends Naval Support for Afghan War
Thus the bad press.
