Japan's General Election

Upon Japan’s general election on August 30, 2009, the Reischauer Center hosted a seminar on the election results and their implications for U.S.-Japan relations. The presenters were Kent Calder, Director of the Center, and Rust Deming, Senior Advisor. Both were optimistic regarding the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance. Despite Hatoyama’s rhetoric, published in a New York Times article, and the prospect of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) halting the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s fueling operation in the Indian Ocean, it is understandable that the new DPJ administration would want to propose different policies from the long ruled Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to show the difference, which in the short term might cause confusion but will be manageable. For the audio of the event, click here, and for the powerpoint used by Kent Calder, click here.