Foreign policies: Japan’s solution to the crisis

As it was said in my previous article, Japan is facing a huge crisis. A consequence from this crisis was that the last Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, was ejected from the Cabinet. He was replaced by Yoshihiko Noda, a fiscal hawk[1]. If he wants to stay at the head of the Government, Noda will have to take some very good initiatives for the Japanese because he is not the most well-liked from the parliament.  One thing that he wants to do is to raise the tax consumption and this is not a very good idea if he wants to stay at the head of the government[2]. But his favourable foreign policies are the solution for him to stay on top. Roughly two weeks after his election, on September 16^th , he had already started to reinforce the foreign policies of Japan with other countries. He is trying to earn back the trust of the Obama’s government from the United States. To do so, he backed away from the idea of an East Asian community. He also picked two pro-Washington officials for key policy positions, naming Johns Hopkins-educated Akihisa Nagashima as a defense adviser and China hawk Seiji Maehara as a policy adviser. Those actions were all favorable for the US. Also, his policies that he wants to do include support for a multi-nation free-trade agreement and for allowing easier exports of Japanese weapons technology, ventures that have strong support in Washington. Noda has also signaled his intention to carry out a long-stalled agreement with Washington that would put the U.S. Marine presence in Okinawa on a more solid footing[3].

    

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/yoshihiko-noda-japans-newest-leader-says-he-has-just-the-style-to-handle-a-mess/2011/08/29/gIQAXIZymJ_story.html

[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/yoshihiko-noda-japans-newest-leader-says-he-has-just-the-style-to-handle-a-mess/2011/08/29/gIQAXIZymJ_story.html

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-trying-to-repair-ties-with-washington/2011/09/15/gIQA6afHXK_story.html

The background of the Japan Crisis

          To understand modern situation in Japan, you have to go back to the events of April 2010. During the month of April, there was a huge tsunami in the Eastern Asia which affected mostly the country of Japan. As you may know or not, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced country in the world. They have many huge nuclear centrals which are mostly located near the seacoast. This tsunami touched the coast of Japan and therefore caused a lot of trouble throughout the country. Nuclear centrals broke and this created a lot of nuclear waste that travelled through the air. This pollution, which can cause death, landed on the ground but also travelled throughout the sea pretty much all around the world. We may think that this catastrophe was only an environmental one for Japan but it also affected the political-economic situation of Japan. In the next few weeks, you will get to know more about the fragile situation of Japan.