Saturday, February 28, 2015

There is liberation in defeat: a lesson for Japan

From 1939 Weizsäcker served in the Potsdam Infantry Regiment 9,
which belonged to the 23rd Infantry Division. He took part in the
invasion of Poland and the struggle against the Soviet Union
Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is expected in Washington the week of April 27th. He would like to speak to a joint session of Congress, something no Japanese has ever done. If he does, expectations are high. His speech will need to be transcendant and reflective. It cannot merely talk about the future. It would be wise, therefore, for the prime minister's staff to study German President Richard von Weizsäcker's seminal 1985 speech on the war's lessons and consequences.


Speech in the Bundestag on 8 May 1985 during the Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the End of War in Europe and of National-Socialist Tyranny

Many nations are today commemorating the date on which World War II ended in Europe. Every nation is doing so with different feelings, depending on its fate. Be it victory or defeat, liberation from injustice and alien rule or transition to new dependence, division, new alliances, vast shifts of power - 8 May 1945 is a date of decisive historical importance for Europe.

We Germans are commemorating that date amongst ourselves, as is indeed necessary. We must find our own standards. We are not assisted in this task if we or others spare our feelings. We need and we have the strength to look truth straight in the eye – without embellishment and without distortion.

For us, the 8th of May is above all a date to remember what people had to suffer. It is also a date to reflect on the course taken by our history. The greater honesty we show in commemorating this day, the freer we are to face the consequences with due responsibility. For us Germans, 8 May is not a day of celebration. Those who actually witnessed that day in 1945 think back on highly personal and hence highly different experiences. Some returned home, others lost their homes. Some were liberated, whilst for others it was the start of captivity. Many were simply grateful that the bombing at night and fear had passed and that they had survived. Others felt first and foremost grief at the complete defeat suffered by their country. Some Germans felt bitterness about their shattered illusions, whilst others were grateful for the gift of a new start.

It was difficult to find one's bearings straight away. Uncertainty prevailed throughout the country. The military capitulation was unconditional, placing our destiny in the hands of our enemies. The past had been terrible, especially for many of those enemies, too. Would they not make us pay many times over for what we had done to them? Most Germans had believed that they were fighting and suffering for the good of their country. And now it turned out that their efforts were not only in vain and futile, but had served the inhuman goals of a criminal regime. The feelings of most people were those of exhaustion, despair and new anxiety. Had one's next of kin survived? Did a new start from those ruins make sense at all? Looking back, they saw the dark abyss of the past and, looking forward, they saw an uncertain, dark future.

Yet with every day something became clearer, and this must be stated on behalf of all of us today: the 8th of May was a day of liberation. It liberated all of us from the inhumanity and tyranny of the National-Socialist regime.

Nobody will, because of that liberation, forget the grave suffering that only started for many people on 8 May. But we must not regard the end of the war as the cause of flight, expulsion and deprivation of freedom. The cause goes back to the start of the tyranny that brought about war. We must not separate 8 May 1945 from 30 January 1933.

There is truly no reason for us today to participate in victory celebrations. But there is every reason for us to perceive 8 May 1945 as the end of an aberration in German history, an end bearing seeds of hope for a better future.

II 

8 May is a day of remembrance. Remembering means recalling an occurrence honestly and undistortedly so that it becomes a part of our very beings. This places high demands on our truthfulness.

Today we mourn all the dead of the war and the tyranny. In particular we commemorate the six million Jews who were murdered in German concentration camps. We commemorate all nations who suffered in the war, especially the countless citizens of the Soviet Union and Poland who lost their lives. As Germans, we mourn our own compatriots who perished as soldiers, during air raids at home, in captivity or during expulsion. We commemorate the Sinti and Romany gypsies, the homosexuals and the mentally ill who were killed, as well as the people who had to die for their religious or political beliefs. We commemorate the hostages who were executed. We recall the victims of the resistance movements in all the countries occupied by us. As Germans, we pay homage to the victims of the German resistance – among the public, the military, the churches, the workers and trade unions, and the communists. We commemorate those who did not actively resist, but preferred to die instead of violating their consciences.

Alongside the endless army of the dead mountains of human suffering arise – grief at the dead, suffering from injury or crippling or barbarous compulsory sterilization, suffering during the air raids, during flight and expulsion, suffering because of rape and pillage, forced labour, injustice and torture, hunger and hardship, suffering because of fear of arrest and death, grief at the loss of everything which one had wrongly believed in and worked for. Today we sorrowfully recall all this human suffering.

Perhaps the greatest burden was borne by the women of all nations. Their suffering, renunciation and silent strength are all too easily forgotten by history. Filled with fear, they worked, bore human life and protected it. They mourned their fallen fathers and sons, husbands, brothers and friends. In the years of darkness, they ensured that the light of humanity was not extinguished. After the war, with no prospect of a secure future, women everywhere were the first to set about building homes again, the "rubble women" in Berlin and elsewhere. When the men who had survived returned, women had to take a back seat again. Because of the war, many women were left alone and spent their lives in solitude. Yet it is first and foremost thanks to the women that nations did not disintegrate spiritually on account of the destruction, devastation, atrocities and inhumanity and that they gradually regained their foothold after the war.

III 

At the root of the tyranny was Hitler's immeasurable hatred against our Jewish compatriots. Hitler had never concealed this hatred from the public, but made the entire nation a tool of it. Only a day before his death, on 30 April 1945, he concluded his socalled will with the words: "Above all, I call upon the leaders of the nation and their followers to observe painstakingly the race laws and to oppose ruthlessly the poisoners of all nations: international Jewry." Hardly any country has in its history always remained free from blame for war or violence. The genocide of the Jews is, however, unparalleled in history.

The perpetration of this crime was in the hands of a few people. It was concealed from the eyes of the public, but every German was able to experience what his Jewish compatriots had to suffer, ranging from plain apathy and hidden intolerance to outright hatred. Who could remain unsuspecting after the burning of the synagogues, the plundering, the stigmatization with the Star of David, the deprivation of rights, the ceaseless violation of human dignity? Whoever opened his eyes and ears and sought information could not fail to notice that Jews were being deported. The nature and scope of the destruction may have exceeded human imagination, but in reality there was, apart from the crime itself, the attempt by too many people, including those of my generation, who were young and were not involved in planning the events and carrying them out, not to take note of what was happening. There were many ways of not burdening one's conscience, of shunning responsibility, looking away, keeping mum. When the unspeakable truth of the Holocaust then became known at the end of the war, all too many of us claimed that they had not known anything about it or even suspected anything.

There is no such thing as the guilt or innocence of an entire nation. Guilt is, like innocence, not collective, but personal. There is discovered or concealed individual guilt. There is guilt which people acknowledge or deny. Everyone who directly experienced that era should today quietly ask himself about his involvement then.

The vast majority of today's population were either children then or had not been born. They cannot profess a guilt of their own for crimes that they did not commit. No discerning person can expect them to wear a penitential robe simply because they are Germans. But their forefathers have left them a grave legacy. All of us, whether guilty or not, whether old or young, must accept the past. We are all affected by its consequences and liable for it. The young and old generations must and can help each other to understand why it is vital to keep alive the memories. It is not a case of coming to terms with the past. That is not possible. It cannot be subsequently modified or made undone. However, anyone who closes his eyes to the past is blind to the present. Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity is prone to new risks of infection.

The Jewish nation remembers and will always remember. We seek reconciliation. Precisely for this reason we must understand that there can be no reconciliation without remembrance. The experience of millionfold death is part of the very being of every Jew in the world, not only because people cannot forget such atrocities, but also because remembrance is part of the Jewish faith.

"Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance." This oft quoted Jewish adage surely expresses the idea that faith in God is faith in the work of God in history. Remembrance is experience of the work of God in history. It is the source of faith in redemption. This experience creates hope, creates faith in redemption, in reunification of the divided, in reconciliation. Whoever forgets this experience loses his faith.

If we for our part sought to forget what has occurred, instead of remembering it, this would not only be inhuman. We would also impinge upon the faith of the Jews who survived and destroy the basis of reconciliation. We must erect a memorial to thoughts and feelings in our own hearts.

IV

The 8th of May marks a deep cut not only in ,German history but in the history of Europe as a whole. The European civil war had come to an end, the old world of Europe lay in ruins. "Europe had fought itself to a standstill" (M. Stürmer). The meeting of American and Soviet Russian soldiers on the Elbe became a symbol for the temporary end of a European era.

True, all this was deeply rooted in history. For a century Europe had suffered under the clash of extreme nationalistic aspirations. At the end of the First World War peace treaties were signed but they lacked the power to foster peace. Once more nationalistic passions flared up and were fanned by the distress of the people at that time. 

Along the road to disaster Hitler became the driving force. He wipped up and exploited mass hysteria. A weak democracy was incapable of stopping him. And even the powers of Western Europe – in Churchill's judgement unsuspecting but not without guilt – contributed through their weakness to this fateful trend. After the First World War America had withdrawn and in the thirties had no influence on Europe. 

Hitler wanted to dominate Europe and to do so through war. He looked for and found an excuse in Poland. On 23 May 1939 he told the German generals: "No further successes can be gained without bloodshed... Danzig is not the objective. Our aim is to extend our Lebensraum in the East and safeguard food supplies... So there is no question of sparing Poland; and there remains the decision to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity... The object is to deliver the enemy a blow, or the annihilating blow, at the start. In this, law, injustice or treaties do not matter." 

On 23 August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact. The secret supplementary protocol made provision for the impending partition of Poland. That pact was made to give Hitler an opportunity to invade Poland. The Soviet leaders at the time were fully aware of this. And all who understood politics realized that the implications of the German-Soviet pact were Hitler's invasion of Poland and hence the Second World War. 

That does not mitigate Germany's responsibility for the outbreak of the Second World War. The Soviet Union was prepared to allow other nations to fight one another so that it could have a share of the spoils. The initiative for the war, however, came from Germany, not from the Soviet Union. It was Hitler who resorted to the use of force. The outbreak of the Second World War remains linked with the name of Germany. 

In the course of that war the Nazi regime tormented and defiled many nations. At the end of it all only one nation remained to be tormented, enslaved and defiled: the German nation. Time and again Hitler had declared that if the German nation was not capable of winning the war it should be left to perish. The other nations first became victims of a war started by Germany before we became the victims of our own war. 

The division of Germany into zones began on the 8th of May. In the meantime the Soviet Union had taken control in all countries of Eastern and South-eastern Europe that had been occupied by Germany during the war. All of them, with the exception of Greece, became socialist states. The division of Europe into two different political systems took its course. True, it was the post-war developments which cemented that division, but without the war started by Hitler it would not have happened at all. That is what first comes to the minds of the nations concerned when they recall the war unleashed by the German leaders. And we think of that too when we ponder the division of our own country and the loss of huge sections of German territory. In a sermon in East Berlin commemorating the 8th of May, Cardinal Meißner said: "The pathetic result of sin is always division."

Get your petition on for a message to the Abe Government

The Abe government believes that only the Koreans and the Chinese are annoyed with his administrations perceptions of history and responsibility. This is not true. Below are a number of petitions initiated in the West and signed by more than citizens of Asian ancestry.


PEARL HARBOR, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should make it clear if he wants to address a Joint Session of Congress.
Tell Speaker John Boehner that we should not allow Prime Minister Abe to address a joint session of Congress unless that
(1) he acknowledges the war criminals convicted in the Tokyo Tribunal as war criminals under all laws;
(2) he promises not to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine; and
(3) he publicly refutes all anti-American distortions of the history.
Coordinator: KACE (Korean American Civic Empowerment)
SIGN HERE


SAY NO TO ‘REVISIONIST HISTORY’ that glorifies Japan’s WWII aggression and war crimes! STOP Prime Minister Abe from miseducating Japan’s children #TruthTodayPeaceTomorrow
Coordinator: Eclipse Rising [Korean-Japanese-American, Zainichi, group]
SIGN HERE


TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WAR CRIMES  of Sexual Slavery and Human Trafficking: Remember the "Comfort Women"
Coordinator: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International (CATW)
SIGN HERE


STOP THE BAN ON ANGELINA JOLIE'S MOVIE UNBROKEN, in Japan, petition to the Japan’s Ambassador to the United States.
Coordinator: The Indo Project
SIGN HERE

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Just what is Japan's postwar?


EDITORIAL: Opposition must push Diet debate in postwar landmark year

The Asahi Shimbun, February 18, 2015


The ongoing debate in the Diet inevitably turns our attention to the significance of Japan’s 70 post-World War II years.

In his policy speech on Feb. 12, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for efforts to revitalize the economy, fix the social security system and rebuild education. He told the nation, “Let us together embark on the most drastic reforms since the end of World War II.”

What does the prime minister’s use of the qualifier “since the end of World War II” here signify? Given Abe’s track record of repeatedly calling for a “departure from the postwar regime” and his unmistakable interest in rewriting the Constitution, we believe his reforms are not so much about reviving the economy and fixing other urgent problems. Rather, it is only natural to assume that the ultimate goal of Abe’s reforms is to transform the very nature of our country that has been shaped over the last 70 years.

But is such a transformation right for Japan? At budget committee meetings and other sessions in the coming days, opposition parties must keep questioning the prime minister to find out what he really wants to do, and engage him in further debate.

Abe is already trying to fundamentally change Japan’s diplomatic and security policies in the name of “proactive pacifism.” His Cabinet has approved Japan’s right to participate in collective self-defense, adopted a new development cooperation charter to extend economic assistance to foreign militaries and eased the nation’s traditional arms exports ban. These are the “three arrows” with which the Abe administration has armed itself to pursue its new policies.

During a recent Diet debate, Katsuya Okada, president of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, objected to expanding the overseas activities of the Self-Defense Forces. He told Abe, “The danger of proactive pacifism lies in the fact that it pursues two separate goals simultaneously--Japan’s self-defense and world peace--as if they were one and the same.”

But Abe dismissed Okada’s argument out of hand. “You are mistaken,” he shot back. “Proactive peace diplomacy is what proactive pacifism is all about.”

As one example of a situation where Japan’s exercise of its right to collective self-defense may be anticipated, Abe cited SDF minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. This is an issue on which Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party does not see eye to eye with its junior coalition partner, Komeito.

Minesweeping constitutes an exercise of armed force if conducted before a truce accord is in place. Is the legislature going to allow this? Komeito has been in discussions with the LDP, but Komeito must make its position clear in the Diet.

Where domestic issues are concerned, the rapidly growing income disparity is starting to change the fabric of society.

Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, blamed Abe’s economic policy for “only causing the growing income disparity, nothing more.”

Abe retorted, “You cannot tell whether the disparity is really growing.” But who can truly believe and say that there is no inequality under Japan’s current taxation and employment systems?

Under Japan’s parliamentary Cabinet system, the Cabinet is formed by the majority camp in the Diet, which renders it difficult for opposition parties to make the government change its bills and policies.

Still, it is an important role of opposition parties to expose problems and flaws in government bills through debate to enable the public to form informed opinions. And it is definitely not what the prime minister disdainfully refers to as “argumentative nitpicking.”

In this landmark year when “postwar” as a concept could start changing, both the ruling and opposition camps bear a heavy responsibility in the Diet.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Monday in Washington, February 23, 2015

2015 CLIMATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE. 2/23-2/25. Sponsors: The World Resources Institute; The Climate Registry; Association of Climate Change Officers; Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Speakers: Ray Mabus, Navy Secretary; Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences; Carol Browner, Former EPA Administrator; Mike Boots, Acting Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality.

ALGAE FOR BIOFUELS. 2/23, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: Tony Haymet, Professor and Emeritus Vice-Chancellor at Scripps Oceanography UCSD; Peter Wilson, Professor at University of Tasmania and University of California San Diego; Yoshihiro Shiraiwa, Professor & Provost at Faculty of Life & Environmental Science and the University of Tsukuba.

EBOLA RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? 2/23, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Global Health Policy Center, CSIS. Speakers: Michael Kurilla, Director, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases; Rosemary Humes, Diagnostic Science Advisor, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Gene Walther, Independent Consultant to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation on Ebola Diagnostics, Live Webcast.

MONETARY POLICY BASED ON THE TAYLOR RULE. 2/23, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: John Taylor, Professor of Economics, Stanford University; Norbert Michel, Research Fellow in Financial Regulations, Heritage.

STANDING UNDER ISIS NARRATIVES: IMPLICATIONS OF A NARRATIVE LENS FOR COUNTERING TERRORISM. 2/23, Noon-2:00pm. Sponsor: Women's Foreign Policy Group. Speaker: Sara Cobb, Director, Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University.

WHY IS ENDING HUNGER SO HARD? 2/23, 12:15-1:45pm. Sponsor: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Speakers: Peter Timmer, Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development; Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Head of the 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and Environment Initiative, IFPRI.

THE GEOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE OIL PRICE PLUNGE. 2/23, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Speaker: Howard Gruenspecht, Deputy Administrator, Energy Information Administration, Live Webcast. 

CHALLENGES AGAINST POVERTY, MALNUTRITION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2/23, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: David Sack, Professor affiliated with the Department of International Health and at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Harunor Rashid, PhD candidate of the Clinical Science Program at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science at the University of Tsukuba; Yukiko Wagatsuma, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at University of Tsukuba.

CLICK TO ORDER
AUTHORIZING MILITARY ACTION AGAINST ISIL: GEOGRAPHY, STRATEGY AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. 2/23, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center (WWC). Speakers: Jane Harman, Director, President and CEO, WWC; David Barno, Former First Commander for Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan; Jeffrey Smith, Former General Counsel, CIA; Jim Scutto, Chief National Security Correspondent, CNN. 

THE STRUGGLE FOR ORDER: HEGEMONY, HIERARCHY AND TRANSITION IN POST-COLD WAR EAST ASIA. 2/23, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. Speakers: author Evelyn Goh, Public Policy Scholar and University Lecturer in International Relations for the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at University of Oxford, Fellow at St. Anne's College in Oxford; Marvin Ott, Senior Scholar and Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University, Former Professor of National Security Policy at the National War College, Former Faculty Fellow at the National Defense University’s Institute for National and Strategic Studies.

RED CHINA'S "CAPITALIST BOMB": INSIDE THE CHINESE NEUTRON BOMB PROGRAM. 2/23, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Speakers: Philip Saunders, Director, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, National Defense University; Jonathan Ray, Research Associate, Defense Group Inc.

CLICK TO ORDER
COLLATERAL AND FINANCIAL PLUMBING. 2/23, 3:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speakers: Author Manmohan Singh, Senior Financial Economist, IMF; Sandra O'Connor, Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer, JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Darrell Duffie, Professor of Finance, Stanford University; Sayee Srinivasan, Chief Economist, US Commodity Future Trading Commission.

RUSSIA'S SECURITY UNDER PUTIN: A BLURRING OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SECURITIES. 2/23, 4:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Elliott School, George Washington University. Speaker: Aglaya Snetkov, Senior Research, Center for Security Studies.

CLICK TO ORDER
THE STRATEGIST: BRENT SCOWCROFT AND THE CALL OF NATIONAL SECURITY. 2/23, 4:00-5:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. Speaker: Author Bartholomew Sparrow, Professor of Government, University of Texas.

JAPAN'S SECURITY POLICY AND THE JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE. 2/23, 6:00-7:00pm. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speaker: Isao Miyaoka, Professor at the Faculty of Law at Keio University.
CLICK TO ORDER

OVERHEAD AND ONLINE: TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND GAPS IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE. 2/23, 6:00-7:30pm, Reception. Sponsor: GWU Elliot School. Speakers: Esther Brimmer, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of International Affairs at GWU, Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at GWU.

TIME TO LISTEN: HEARING PEOPLE ON THE RECEIVING END OF INTERNATIONAL AID. 2/23, 6:30-8:00pm. Sponsor: Elliott School, George Washington University. Speaker: Co-Author Dayna Brown, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects. 

IS SHAME NECESSARY? NEW USES FOR AN OLD TOOL. 2/23, 7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Politics & Prose. Speaker: author Professor Jennifer Jacquet, New York University.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

HAPPY YEAR OF THE SHEEP 2015


Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule November 17-23, 2014

Monday, November 17, 2014

AM
(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Conference with Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong at Novotel Brisbane Hotel in Brisbane, Australia
Depart from Brisbane Airport on private government aircraft

PM
(Japan time)
04:17 Arrive at Haneda Airport, completing visit to China, Myanmar, and Australia
04:29 Depart from airport
04:54 Arrive at Imperial Palace, register return to Japan
05:02 Depart from Imperial Palace
05:19 Arrive at Tokyo Prince Hotel in Shiba Park, Tokyo
05:20 Ruling Party-Leader Coalition with Chief Representative of New Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo in waiting room of hotel
05:50 Ruling Party-Leader Coalition ends
06:01 Attend 50th Anniversary of Formation of New Komeito Celebration and Gathering to Express Gratitude in banquet hall Ho-Oh-No-Ma, deliver address
06:30 Celebration ends
06:33 Depart from Tokyo Prince Hotel
06:43 Arrive at office
06:45 Meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide
07:29 End meeting with Mr. Suga
07:31 Depart from office
07:51 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:41 Depart from private residence
08:55 Arrive at office
08:58 Cabinet Meeting begins
09:09 Cabinet Meeting ends
09:11 Speak with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio; Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nishikawa Koya; Director-General of Fisheries Agency Honkawa Kazuyoshi; and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Economic Affairs Bureau Saiki Naoko
09:17 Finish speaking with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Nishikawa, Mr. Honkawa, and Ms. Saiki
09:18 Meet with Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue Yamatani Eriko
09:35 End meeting with Ms. Yamatani
10:00 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro, and Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters Miyagawa Tadashi enter
10:05 Mr. Kuroe and Mr. Miyagawa leave
10:25 Mr. Kitamura leaves
11:43 Speak with Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Uchibori Masao. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and former Minister for Reconstruction Nemoto Takumi also attend
11:53 Finish speaking with Mr. Uchibori

PM
03:02 Receive proposal from Chairman of LDP Group for Making Abenomics Successful Yamamoto Kozo
03:17 Finish receiving proposal
03:59 Meet with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Cabinet Office’s Vice-Minister Matsuyama Kenji, and Director-Generals for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Habuka Shigeki, and Tawa Hiroshi
04:26 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa
04:28 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Mr. Amari. Mr. Suga also attends
04:47 End meeting with Mr. Aso and Mr. Amari
04:50 Depart from office
04:53 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
05:00 Speak with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
05:08 Finish speaking with Mr. Tanigaki
05:19 LDP Extraordinary Session Officers Meeting
05:44 Meeting ends
05:47 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
05:50 Arrive at office
05:54 Ruling Parties Leader-Coalition commences with Chief Representative of New Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo
06:04 Ruling Parties Leader-Coalition closes
06:14 Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting commences
06:35 Council meeting closes
07:10 Press Conference
07:38 Press Conference ends
07:58 Interview with Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei)
08:19 Interview ends
08:21 Interview with Mainichi Shimbun
08:41 Interview ends
08:43 Depart from office
08:48 Arrive at NHK Chiyoda Broadcasting Hall in Kioi-cho, Tokyo
09:05 Give presentation on NHK news program
09:17 Finish presentation
09:20 Depart from NHK Chiyoda Broadcasting Hall
09:23 Arrive at official residence
09:26 Interview with Nippon TV
09:43 Interview ends
09:55 Interview with Yukan Fuji
10:10 Interview ends
11:01 Depart from official residence
11:07 Arrive at TBS Broadcasting Center in Akasaka, Tokyo
11:22 Give Presentation on news program
11:55 Finish presentation
11:58 Depart from TBS Broadcasting Center

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

AM
12:13 Arrive at private residence
12:30 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:12 Depart from private residence
08:30 Arrive at office
08:35 Government-Labor-Management Meeting
09:34 Meeting ends
09:42 Speak with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
09:56 Finish speaking with Mr. Seko
10:21 Meet with Ministry of Finance’s Vice-Minister Kagawa Shunsuke and Director-General of Budget Bureau Tanaka Kazuho
11:03 End meeting with Mr. Kagawa and Mr. Tanaka
11:10 Receive proposal from Chairman of LDP Regional Development and Management Headquarters [自民党地方創生実行統合本部:Jiminto Chiho Sosei Jikko Togo Honbu] Kawamura Takeo
11:23 Finish receiving proposal
11:25 Speak with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
11:30 Finish speaking with Mr. Kimura
11:31 Speak with Special Advisor to President of the LDP Hagiuda Koichi
11:38 Finish speaking with Mr. Hagiuda
11:40 Depart from office
11:53 Arrive at NHK Hall in Jinnan, Tokyo. Attend National Convention of Town and Village Mayors, deliver address

PM
12:12 Depart from NHK Hall
12:28 Arrive at office
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
12:58 Speak with Minister in charge of Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan Ishiba Shigeru
12:59 Finish speaking with Mr. Ishiba
01:00 Upper House Special Committee on Regional Vitalization meeting commences
02:04 Leave seat during proceedings
02:06 Depart from Diet
02:08 Arrive at office
03:22 Speak with LDP Lower House member Yamada Kenji and colleagues
03:26 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamada and colleagues
03:29 Interview with Sankei Shimbun
04:01 Interview ends
04:02 Interview with Yomiuri Shimbun
05:06 Interview ends
05:18 Award Ceremony for Contributors to Children, Family, and Young People Support Group. Minister in charge of Women’s Empowerment and Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate Arimura Haruko also attends
05:19 Speak with Chairman of LDP Headquarters for Regional Diplomatic and Economic Partnership Eto Seishiro and Director of LDP Foreign Affairs Division Akiba Kenya
05:28 Finish speaking with Mr. Eto and Mr. Akiba
05:29 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro and Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi
05:46 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and Mr. Kawano
05:55 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
06:30 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
07:41 Depart from office
08:03 Arrive at private residence

Thursday, November 20, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitor)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:29 Depart from private residence
09:44 Arrive at office
10:42 LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko, Chairman of LDP Research Commission on the Tax System Noda Takeshi, and Chairman of the commission’s Subcommittee Nukaga Fukushiro enter
11:12 Mr. Noda and Mr. Nakaga leave
11:14 Mr. Komura leaves
11:19 Meet with Speaker of Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of Kyrgyz Republic Asylbek Jeenbekov
11:35 End meeting with Speaker Jeenbekov
11:36 Speak with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa
11:44 Finish speaking with Mr. Shiozaki
11:45 Speak with Minister of Justice Kamikawa Yoko
11:48 Finish speaking with Ms. Kamikawa
11:49 Speak with Minister of the Environment Mochizuki Yoshio
11:50 Finish speaking with Mr. Mochizuki
11:51 Speak with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun

PM
12:02 Finish speaking with Mr. Shimomura
12:04 Speak with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nishikawa Koya
12:10 Finish speaking with Mr. Nishikawa
12:50 Meet with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
01:05 End meeting with Mr. Takaichi
01:20 Arrive at NHK Hall in Jinnan, Tokyo. Attend National Convention of Central Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry, deliver address
01:39 Depart from NHK Hall
01:59 Arrive at office
02:09 Receive proposal from Chairperson of LDP Policy Research Council Inada Tomomi
02:33 Finish receiving proposal
02:34 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Iijima Isao
02:50 End meeting with Mr. Iijima
03:45 Depart from office
03:48 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
03:49 Commemorative photo session for poster use. Chairman of LDP Public Relations Headquarters also attends
04:51 Commemorative photo session ends
04:57 Meet with Chairperson of LDP Policy Research Council Ms. Inada and Executive Acting Chairman of LDP Policy Research Council Shionoya Ryu
05:30 End meeting with Ms. Inada and Mr. Shionoya
05:31 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
05:33 Arrive at office
05:35 Meet with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
05:50 End meeting with Mr. Ohta
06:31 Summit Conference with King of Jordan Abdullah II bin Al Hussein
07:20 Summit Conference ends
07:21 Joint signing ceremony and joint press release
07:32 Press release ends
07:33 Depart from office
07:35 Arrive at official residence
07:37 Reception for King Abdullah II. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo
08:38 See of King Abdullah II
08:39 Finish seeing off King Abdullah II

Friday, November 21, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:55 Depart from official residence
09:03 Cabinet Meeting commences
09:24 Cabinet Meeting closes
09:25 Speak with Minister of Defense Eto Akinori
09:26 Finish speaking with Mr. Eto
09:27 Speak with Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Yamaguchi Shunichi
09:31 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamaguchi
09:32 Speak with Minister for Reconstruction Takeshita Wataru
09:33 Finish speaking with Mr. Takeshita
09:34 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
10:08 End meeting with Mr. Aso
11:08 Meet with Director of National Security Council Yachi Shotaro, MOFA’s Vice-Minister Saiki Akitaka and Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime
11:32 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Saiki, and Mr. Hayashi
11:33 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawai Katsuyuki
11:50 Finish meeting with Mr. Kawai

PM
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
12:58 Speak with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
01:01 Finish speaking with Mr. Motegi
01:02 Lower House Plenary Session opens
01:14 Dissolution of Lower House
01:15 Leave Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
01:16 Enter Lower House Speaker’s Room. Greet Lower House Speaker Ibuki Bunmei and Vice-Speaker Akamatsu Hirotaka. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu accompany
01:18 Leave room
01:21 Enter Upper House President’s Room. Greet President of Upper House Yamazaki Masaki. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige accompanies
01:22 Leave room, enter Upper House Vice-President’s Office. Greet Vice-President of Upper House Koshiishi Azuma
01:23 Leave room
01:24 Enter Lower House 7th Waiting Room. Attend Assembly of New Komeito Upper and Lower House Members, deliver address
01:26 Leave room
01:27 Enter Lower House 14th Waiting Room
01:28 General Meeting of LDP Upper and Lower House Members
01:36 Meeting ends
01:38 Leave room
01:39 Depart from Diet
01:40 Arrive at office
02:02 Extraordinary Session Cabinet Meeting
02:09 Cabinet Meeting ends
02:28 Depart from office
02:31 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
02:32 LDP Election Strategy Headquarters meeting
02:45 Meeting ends
02:46 Speak with Chairman of General Assembly of LDP Members in Upper House Mizote Kensei and Secretary-General for LDP in Upper House Date Chuichi
02:47 Finish speaking with Mr. Mizote and Mr. Date
02:48 Speak with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Mr. Motegi
02:51 Finish speaking with Mr. Motegi
02:52 Hang signboard for LDP Election Headquarters [選挙本部:Senkyo Honbu]
02:55 Finish hanging signboard
03:03 Commemorative photo session with candidates for Lower House
04:08 Photo session ends
04:25 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
04:27 Arrive at The Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Nagata-cho, Tokyo. Attend General Meeting of National Conference to Promote Export of Agricultural, Forestry-related, and Marine Products (JAECAP 2014) at banquet hall Ho’oh within hotel, deliver address
04:37 Depart from hotel
04:39 Arrive at office
04:49 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
05:17 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
06:00 Press Conference
06:25 Press Conference ends
06:54 Depart from office
06:56 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
06:59 Interview with Sports Hochi
07:13 Interview ends
07:14 Interview with Nikkan Sports
07:24 Interview ends
07:25 Interview with Tokyo Sports
07:37 Interview ends
07:38 Interview with Sankei Sports
07:49 Interview ends
07:56 Interview with Sports Nippon
08:04 Interview ends
08:06 Interview with Daily Sports
08:16 Interview ends
08:17 Interview with Tokyo Chunichi Sports
08:28 Interview ends
08:29 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
08:31 Arrive at official residence

Saturday, November 22, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
Stay at official residence throughout morning (no visitors)

PM
01:00 Interview with British newspaper The Economist
01:50 Interview ends
02:19 Interview with Kyodo News Service
02:45 Interview ends
02:47 Interview with Jiji Press
03:15 Interview ends

Sunday, November 23, 2014

AM
12:00 Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko enter
01:00 At official residence (no visitors)
10:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
Stay at official residence throughout morning (no visitors)

PM
12:46 Depart from official residence
01:00 Arrive at facility complex Caretta Shiodome in Higashi-Shinbashi, Tokyo. Film video for use in election at Caretta Studio within Caretta Shiodome
03:58 Finish filming
04:08 Arrive at official residence
05:33 Depart from official residence
05:56 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
06:40 Depart from official residence
06:55 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend Niinamesai (harvest festival Celebrations of the First Taste)
08:42 Depart from Imperial Palace
08:58 Arrive at private residence

Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Japan Policy Week with the US-Japan Research Institute

Twice a year, the Japanese university-supported US-Japan Research Institute holds a series of policy programs in Washington, DC. The first Japan Week will be held February 23-March 3.

ALGAE FOR BIOFUELS - COLD WATER, INLAND IN PONDS OR IN THE LAB. 2/23, 10:00-11:30am , Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: Tony Haymet, Professor and Emeritus Vice-Chancellor at Scripps Oceanography UCSD; Peter Wilson, Professor at University of Tasmania and University of California San Diego; Yoshihiro Shiraiwa, Professor & Provost at Faculty of Life & Environmental Science and the University of Tsukuba. 

CHALLENGES AGAINST POVERTY, MALNUTRITION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2/23, 2:00-3:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: David Sack, Professor affiliated with the Department of International Health and at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Harunor Rashid, PhD candidate of the Clinical Science Program at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science at the University of Tsukuba; Yukiko Wagatsuma, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at University of Tsukuba.

JAPAN'S SECURITY POLICY AND THE JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE. 2/23, 6:00-7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speaker: Isao Miyaoka, Professor at the Faculty of Law at Keio University. Students Only.

JAPAN'S CHANGING SECURITY POLICY AND THE JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE. 2/24. 3:00-4:30, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: Mike Mochizuki, Japan-US Relations Professor at GWU Elliott School; Isao Miyaoka, Professor at the Faculty of Law at Keio University; Andrew Oros, Director of International Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Washington College.

CAN THE ASEAN COUNTRIES AVOID THE MIDDLE INCOME TRAP, AND HOW IS THAT RELEVANT FOR THE US AND JAPAN. 2/24, 6:00-7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speaker: Junichi Mori, Professor and Vice President for international Relations of Kyoto University. Students Only.

CHINA'S XI JINPING ADMINISTRATION: AN ASSESSMENT OF ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES. 2/26, 10:00-11:30am, Washington, DC. Sponsors: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI); East-West Center. Speakers: Masako Egawa, Chair of the U.S.-Japan Research Institute, Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo; Ellen Frost, Adjunct Senior Fellow at EWC in Washington; Akio Takahara, Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo; Nathaniel Ahrens, Director of China Affairs at the University of Maryland , Senior Associate of the Hills Program on Governance at CSIS; Susan Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs, Congressional Research Service (CRS).

THE U.S. REBALANCE: TPP’S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ROLES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC. 2/27, 10:00am-Noon, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI); Wilson Center. Speakers: Shihoko Goto, Senior Associate for Northeast Asia of the Asia Program at Wilson Center; Takashi Terada, Operating Advisor at USJI, Professor at Doshisha University; Tami Overby, Senior Vice President, Asia, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

BUILDING THE TOMODACHI GENERATION: ENGAGING U.S. AND JAPANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING. 2/27, 10:00am-12:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsors: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI); U.S.-Japan Council; The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. Judges: Katsuichi Uchida, President of the U.S.-Japan Research Institute; Christopher Joseph Cook, Chief Compliance Officer of Keel Point Advisors.

WHY EAST ASIA CANNOT BE LIKE EUROPE? REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND POWER POLITICS. 3/3, 6:00-7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S.-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speaker: Takashi Terada, Operating Advisor at USJI, Professor at Doshisha University.  Students Only.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Didn't Japan drive off this bridge once before?

NSC Secretariat pushes for use of collective self-defense in cases of economic threat

Mainichi Shimbun, 2/4/15


The secretariat of the National Security Council is drafting a proposal to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense in cases of economic threats - even when there are no military threats - to Japanese citizens, the Mainichi Shimbun learned Feb. 3.

The proposal has drawn fire from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner, Komeito, for its potential to stretch the definition of "threat" and expand the scope of Self-Defense Force (SDF) operations.

The National Security Secretariat's draft proposal allows for Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense if a situation is determined to be likely to cause economic damage to Japanese citizens, even if there is no expected military threat. It would expand the range of force indicated in a Cabinet decision passed in July 2014, and give the SDF the go-ahead to participate in minesweeping missions during wartime in the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. Komeito, however, is set to oppose broadening the scope of Japan's right to collective self-defense.

According to the July 2014 Cabinet decision, Japan's use of force is permitted only when "Japan's existence is threatened and there are clear dangers to its people's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness being fundamentally overturned." Existing laws, however, are based on the premise of individual self-defense, and permit the SDF to use force only when an attack has occurred, or if Japan is in an armed attack situation and in imminent danger. An armed attack situation in which an attack on Japan is predicted, meanwhile, does not grant Japan the right to use force under current legislation.

The National Security Secretariat aims for legislative amendments that would allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense if, for example, due to military attacks on another country, Japan is unable to import oil and suffers economic losses, putting Japanese citizens' assets in danger. Some suggest using the term "survival risk situation" to refer to such cases with relatively low levels of danger.

The Cabinet Legislation Bureau, however, indicated during Diet deliberations that the condition for the use of force by the SDF as established by the Cabinet decision is the level of probability that war would reach Japan. The latest proposal could infinitely stretch the definition of "danger,"and that possibility has provoked strong objections from Komeito, which argues that a new interpretation could be characterized as violating the Constitution and is inconceivable.

With some in the LDP also wary of making such a step, the proposal is unlikely to pass.

Senior ruling party officials had heretofore negotiated revision of security legislation behind closed doors, but the prime minister's office urged them to conduct talks publicly in order to speed things up so that draft bills can be submitted after nationwide local elections this spring. One senior party official said that no agreement was reached in behind-closed-doors negotiations, while a government source admitted that the government was searching for common ground that the LDP and Komeito could share to get the security-related bills off the ground.

The administration is also hoping that by setting the bar high initially in ruling party deliberations over the right to collective self-defense - an issue that has much of the Japanese public worried - the ruling party can later claim to that same public that it had reined in its aspirations regarding the use of force.

Ruling party deliberations on security legislation will begin between the LDP and Komeito on Feb. 13.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Monday in Washington, February 9, 2015

AN ECONOMIC AGENDA FOR AMERICA. 2/9, 10:30-11:30am. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT); EJ Dionne Jr., Brookings senior fellow in governance studies and Washington Post columnist.

US MARINE CORPS CRISIS RESPONSE: EBOLA. 2/9, 1:30-3:00pm Sponsor: United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Speaker: Col. Robert Fulford, Commanding Officer, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force.

A VISIT TO TEHRAN. 2/9, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Former Rep. Jim Slattery, D-KS, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP; Bharath Gopalaswamy, Acting Director, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council; Barbara Slavin, Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council.

REPAIRING THE INDIA-PAKISTAN RIFT. 2/9, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Speakers: Sadanand Dhume, Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Dana Marshall, President, Transnational Strategy Group; Siddiq Wahid, Senior Fellow, Center for Policy and Research; Moeed Yusuf, Director, South Asia Programs, USIP.

LEADERLESS REVOLUTIONS AND THEIR CHALLENGES. 2/9, 3:30-5:00pm. Sponsor: Project for Study of the 21st Century. Speakers: Srdja Popovic, Leader, CANVAS Group; Jack Goldstone, Professor of International Relations, George Mason University.

A CONVERSATION WITH YOSSI BEILIN. 2/9, 4:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Middle East Program, Wilson Center (WWC). Speakers: Yossi Beilin, Former Israeli Minister of Justice; Aaron Miller, Vice President for New Initiatives, WWC.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS WITH JEROME POWELL. 2/9, 4:00pm. Sponsor: Catholic University of America Law School. Speaker: The Honorable Jerome Powell, Governor, Federal Reserve.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule November 10-16, 2014

Monday, November 10, 2014

AM

(Local time in Beijing, China)
Conference with President of Indonesia Joko Widodo and President of Peru Ollanta Humala successively at China National Convention Center in Beijing

PM
(Local time in Beijing, China)
Conference with President of China Xi Jinping at Great Hall of the People
Attend Trans-Pacific Partnership Leaders’ Summit at Embassy of the US
Attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Summit at China National Convention Center
APEC CEO Summit reception event at National Aquatics Center
Dinner meeting
Attend fireworks viewing
Stay night at Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

Tuesday, November 11, 2014
AM
(Local time in Beijing, China)
Attend APEC CEO Summit at Yanqi Lake International Conference Center on outskirts of Beijing

PM
(Local time in Beijing, China)
Commemorative tree planting with APEC Leaders, working lunch
Attend APEC CEO Summit
Press conference with domestic and foreign media at Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong
Stay night at hotel

Wednesday, November 12, 2014
AM
(Local time in Beijing, China)
Depart from Beijing Capital International Airport on private government aircraft
PM
(Local time in Naypyidaw, Myanmar)
Arrive at Naypyidaw International Airport
Conference with President of Myanmar Thein Sein at Myanmar International Convention Center (MICC) in Naypyidaw City
Summit Conference with Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbot at MICC
Japan Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders’ Summit
Conference with President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III
Japan-Mekong Summit Meeting
Attend ASEAN dinner meeting
Stay night at Horizon Lakeview Resort Hotel in Naypyidaw

Thursday, November 13, 2014

AM

(Local time in Naypyidaw, Myanmar)
Attend East Asia Summit (EAS) at MICC

PM
(Local time in Naypyidaw, Myanmar)
Conference with Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha and Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak successively at MICC
Attend ASEAN Plus Three (Japan, China, South Korea) Summit
Depart from Naypyidaw International Airport on private government aircraft
(Local time in Yangon, Myanmar)
Arrive at Yangon International Airport
View General Post Office in Yangon City
Depart from Yangon International Airport on private government aircraft
Spend night on aircraft

Friday, November 14, 2014

AM

(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Arrive at Brisbane Airport on private government aircraft

PM
(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Conference with President of South Africa Jacob Zuma at Pullman Hotel in Brisbane City
Conference with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at members-only club Tattersall’s Club
Stay night at Novotel Brisbane Hotel

Saturday, November 15, 2014

AM

(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Attend G20 Leaders’ Summit at Queensland Parliament House in Brisbane, Australia

PM
(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
G20 lunch meeting at Parliament House
G20 reception at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
G20 Leaders’ Summit
Attend reception hosted by Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbot at Brisbane Modern Art Gallery
Attend G20 working dinner and cultural event at Queensland Art Gallery
Stay night at Novotel Brisbane Hotel

Sunday, November 16, 2014

AM

(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Trilateral Leaders Meeting with President of US Barack Obama and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbot at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Continue Japan-US Summit Conference with President Obama
Attend G20 Leaders’ Summit
Attend G20 working lunch

PM
(Local time in Brisbane, Australia)
Conference with President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Informal talk with accompanying press group at Novotel Brisbane Hotel
Dinner meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro at Consulate-General of Japan in Brisbane
Stay night at Novotel Brisbane Hotel

Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones

Exhibition of Archival Documents Supporting Unbroken

click to order
National Archives Meets Hollywood: Shares Records Behind UNBROKEN!

Free screening, document display, and article highlight National Archives’ connection

Washington, DC

Special free screening of UNBROKEN
Tuesday, February 10, at 7 PM, William G. McGowan Theater

Major Japanese newspapers and commentators such as the Yomiuri Shimbun identify Unbroken as a "novel" and think the movie will heighten anti-Japanese sentiment. This view is part of rightwing campaign in Japan to re-interpret the war and depict its victims as liars. The National Archives will open an exhibit to take on this denier history on February 5th.

Join the National Archives in downtown Washington for a free screening of the film UNBROKEN (2014; 137 minutes; trailer), based on the 2010 book by Laura Hillenbrand, UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival Resilience and Redemption. The film, a World War II action drama, was produced and directed by Angelina Jolie and stars Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, and Domhnall Gleeson. Presented in partnership with NBCUniversal and in conjunction with the UNBROKEN Featured Document display, February 5 through March 4, 2015.

Register online or call 202-357-6814. Theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to start time. Walk-ins without reservations will be admitted 15 minutes prior to start time, depending on available seats. Attendees should use the Special Event entrance on Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, NW.

UNBROKEN Featured Document Display*
February 5 through March 4, 2015, National Archives East Rotunda Gallery

The National Archives welcomes UNBROKEN with a special display of Olympian Louis "Louie" Zamperini’s wartime service records and his Purple Heart, which he gave to UNBROKEN author Laura Hillenbrand. The display is free and open to the public at the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, on Constitution Avenue at 9th Street, NW.

On May 27, 1943, Army Air Force bombardier Louis “Louie” Zamperini’s B-24 airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louie survived 47 days at sea, only to be taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. His fate unknown, Louie was declared dead a year and a day after his plane went down. His family received a condolence letter from President Franklin Roosevelt and a Purple Heart medal for “wounds that resulted in his death.” Against all odds, Zamperini survived and was liberated at the end of the war. The National Archives Museum’s “Featured Documents” exhibit is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation.

Display highlights include:
-Letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Zamperini Family after Louis was mistakenly declared deceased, May 28, 1944.* National Archives at St. Louis
-Certificate awarding the Purple Heart medal to Louis Silvie Zamperini after he was mistakenly declared deceased, October 12, 1944.* National Archives at St. Louis
-Purple Heart medal awarded to Louis Silvie Zamperini, ca. 1944. Courtesy of Laura Hillenbrand, author "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption," who received it as a gift from Louis Zamperini.
Online resources: Zamperini’s Paper Trail at the National Archives
The National Archives holds hundreds of millions of records created or received by the U.S. Government during World War II, including the original records of hero Louis Zamperini. See:
Air Crew Report on the disappearance of the Green Hornet, Zamperini's B-24 plane.
Smithsonian.com “Deep Dive” on the Air Crew Report that includes an interview with archivist Eric VanSlander.
National Archives blog post “Louis Zamperini: The Story of a True American Hero.”

The East Rotunda Gallery and William G. McGowan Theater are located in the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. Metro accessible on Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station. To verify the date and times of the programs, call the National Archives Public Programs Line at: 202-357-5000, or view the Calendar of Events online.

* Please note: a July 12, 1973, fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO, destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) of Army and Air Force service members, including Zamperini’s file. In reconstructing his service record, official copies of these original records were incorporated into Zamperini’s OMPF by the National Archives.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Year Three of Abenomics: Wither the Third Arrow


Richard Katz, Editor of the Oriental Economist and APP member spoke to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on February 2, 2015 on the prospects for Abenomics. He speaks to the need for institutional renovation if Japan's economy to revive. This requires leadership and this is not what Abe can provide. Abe is an ideological representative encased in marketing, not an inspirational and activist leader. He is a place-holding obstructionist of an ancien régime .

Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule November 3-9, 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

AM

12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
09:51 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
10:05 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend Order of Culture Award Ceremony
10:59 Depart from Imperial Palace
11:15 Arrive at private residence

PM
Stay at private residence throughout afternoon and evening

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

AM

12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:11 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:25 Arrive at office
07:30 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:25 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:29 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:34 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:35 Speak with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun
08:36 Finish speaking with Mr. Shimomura
08:37 Speak with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
08:38 Finish speaking with Ms. Takaichi
08:39 Speak with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa
08:40 Finish speaking with Mr. Shiozaki
08:41 Speak with Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue Yamatani Eriko
08:42 Finish speaking with Ms. Yamatani
08:43 Speak with Minister in charge of Promoting Women’s Active Participation Arimura Haruko
08:44 Finish speaking with Ms. Arimura
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
08:58 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:00 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso
09:01 Upper House Budget Committee opens
11:56 Upper House Budget Committee recess
11:57 Leave room
11:58 Depart from Diet
PM
12:00 Arrive at office
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Arrive at Diet
12:58 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee reopens
05:18 Upper House Budget Committee adjourns
05:19 Leave room
05:21 Depart from Diet
05:22 Arrive at office
05:29 Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting
06:21 Meeting ends
06:23 Speak with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
06:31 Finish speaking with Mr. Kitamura
06:32 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
06:49 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Saiki
07:11 Depart from office
07:12 Arrive at official residence. Dinner hosted by Prime Minister with President of Micronesia Emanuel Mori. Former Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro and State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yamagiwa Daishiro also attend
08:17 See off President Mori
08:18 Finish seeing off President Mori

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

AM

12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:54 Depart from official residence
08:55 Arrive at office
09:19 Speak with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
09:29 Finish speaking with Mr. Saiki
09:30 Speak with Nobel Prize for Physics award winner and American University of California, Santa Barbara professor Nakamura Shuji. Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Yamaguchi Shunichi also attends
09:37 Finish speaking with Mr. Nakamura
10:01 Depart from office
10:09 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend Autumn Presentation of Grand Cordon Ceremony
10:47 Depart from Imperial Palace
10:54 Arrive at office
11:31 Drill to Establish Emergency Disaster Response Headquarters associated with Tsunami Preparedness Day
11:36 Drill meeting ends
11:39 Receive courtesy call from Nara Persimmon PR Ladies Sakiyama Akemi and Yamamoto Chizuko
11:50 Meet with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji

PM
12:11 End meeting with Mr. Hiramatsu
12:22 Ruling Party Liaison Conference
12:48 Conference ends
12:51 Speak with Minister for Reconstruction Takeshita Wataru
12:53 Finish speaking with Mr. Takeshita
12:54 Speak with Minister of Defense Eto Akinori
12:56 Finish speaking with Mr. Eto
01:11 Depart from office
01:20 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Attend Autumn Conferring of Order Ranks Ceremony
01:46 Depart from Imperial Palace
01:54 Arrive at office
02:23 Speak with incoming Deputy Special Representative for UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Yamamoto Tadamichi. Mr. Saiki and Mr. Hiramatsu also attend
02:34 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamamoto
02:35 Mr. Saiki and Mr. Hiramatsu enter
02:58 Mr. Hiramatsu leaves
03:08 Mr. Saiki leaves
03:09 Speak with Minister of State for Space Policy Mr. Yamaguchi
03:19 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamaguchi
03:24 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru enters
03:40 Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro and National Police Agency’s Director of Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Department Takizawa Hiroaki enter
03:55 Everyone leaves
03:57 Depart from office
03:58 Arrive at official residence
04:05 Reception for former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh
04:06 Finish reception
04:07 Conference with Mr. Singh commences
04:32 Conference closes
04:33 See off Mr. Singh
04:34 Finish seeing off Mr. Singh
04:35 Depart from official residence
04:36 Arrive at office
04:47 Meet with Minister of Finance Aso Taro, (MOF)’s Vice-Minister Kagawa Shunsuke, Administrative Vice-Minister for Policy Planning and Coordination Sakota Hidenori, Director-General of Budget Bureau Tanaka Kazuho, and Director-General of Tax Bureau Sato Shinichi
05:39 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Kagawa, Mr. Sakota, Mr. Tanaka, and Mr. Sato
05:40 Speak with Director of LDP Treasury and Finance Division Shibayama Masahiko
05:50 Finish speaking with Mr. Shibayama
06:12 Meet with Minister in charge of Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan Ishiba Shigeru, Special Advisor to Minister of State for Special Missions (Mr. Ishiba) Ito Tatsuya, and Acting Senior Chief Secretary of Headquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economies Yamasaki Shiro
06:46 End meeting with Mr. Ishiba, Mr. Ito, and Mr. Yamasaki
06:50 Depart from office
06:57 Arrive at French restaurant Hibiya Matsumotoro in Hibiya Park, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu, Chairperson of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, Chairman of LDP Policy Research Council Inada Tomomi, and Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
08:30 Depart from restaurant
08:35 Arrive at official residence

Thursday, November 6, 2014

AM

12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:39 Depart from official residence
08:48 Arrive at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi, Tokyo
09:00 Attend G8 Dementia Summit’s successor event in Japan at Roppongi Academy Hills within Mori Tower, deliver address
09:08 Finish address
09:10 Depart from Mori Tower
09:16 Arrive at office
09:30 Speak with Secretary-General of Headquarters for Promotion of Administrative Reform Takimoto Sumio
09:35 Finish speaking with Mr. Takimoto
09:41 Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan meeting
09:53 Council meeting ends
09:54 Meet with Nobel Prize for Economics award winner and US Princeton University Professor Paul Krugman. Cabinet Advisors Hamada Koichi and Honda Etsuro also attend
10:26 End meeting with Mr. Krugman
10:35 Meet with Administrative Vice-Ministers for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke and Nagamine Yasumasa; MOF’s Director-General of International Bureau Asakawa Masatsugu; Administrative Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Harihara Hisao; Administrative Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ishiguro Norihiko; and Administrative Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Muto Hiroshi
11:26 End meeting with Mr. Sugiyama, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Asakawa, Mr. Harihara, Mr. Ishiguro, and Mr. Muto
11:27 Depart from office
11:32 Arrive at ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo in Akasaka, Tokyo. Informal talk with President of Yamaguchi Prefecture Association of Commerce and Industry [山口県商工会議所連合会:Yamaguchi-ken Shokokai Gijyo Rengokai] Kawakami Yasuo and colleagues at Chinese restaurant Karin within hotel
11:48 Depart from hotel
11:54 Arrive at Diet
11:55 Enter Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
11:57 Speak with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
11:59 Finish speaking with Ms. Takaichi

PM
12:00 Speak with LDP Lower House member Nukaga Fukushiro
12:01 Finish speaking with Mr. Nukaga
12:02 Lower House Plenary Session opens
12:42 Lower House Plenary Session adjourns
12:43 Leave Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
12:45 Depart from Diet
12:46 Arrive at office
01:26 Depart from office
01:33 Arrive at Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Moto-Akasaka, Tokyo. Attend Autumn Garden Party with wife Akie
03:12 Depart from Akasaka Imperial Gardens
03:20 Arrive at office
04:07 Filming video message for 5th International Conference for Universal Design 2014
04:30 Finish filming
04:31 Speak with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
04:42 Finish speaking with Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Hiramatsu, and Mr. Kuroe
04:43 Receive courtesy call from representatives of Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program
04:56 Courtesy call ends
04:57 Meet with Minister in charge of TPP Amari Akira
05:31 End meeting with Mr. Amari
05:35 Main Ministers on TPP meeting
05:47 Meeting ends
05:48 Administrative Reform Promotion Council meeting
05:56 Meeting ends
06:14 Interview with American newspaper Washington Post
06:51 Interview ends
06:52 Depart from office
06:53 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting with Chairman of LDP Diet Affairs Committee in Upper House Yoshida Hiromi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige, and colleagues
08:19 Everyone leaves

Friday, November 7, 2014
AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:57 Depart from official residence
07:58 Arrive at office
07:59 Meet with Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, MOF’s Vice-Minister Kagawa Shunsuke, MOF’s Administrative Vice-Minister for Policy Planning Coordination Sakota Hidenori, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, and Cabinet Office’s Director-Generals for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru and Tawa Hiroshi
08:22 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Amari, Mr. Kagawa, Mr. Sakota, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa and Mr. Tawa
08:27 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:38 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:39 Speak with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nishikawa Koya
08:40 Finish speaking with Mr. Nishikawa
08:41 Speak with Minister of the Environment Mochizuki Yoshio
08:42 Finish speaking with Mr. Mochizuki
08:43 Speak with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Miyazawa Yoichi
08:44 Finish speaking with Mr. Miyazawa
08:45 Speak with Minister of Justice Kamikawa Yoko
08:46 Finish speaking with Ms. Kamikawa
08:47 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
09:07 End meeting with Mr. Seko
09:15 Speak with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
09:24 Finish speaking with Mr. Kato
09:40 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
09:55 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
11:23 Depart from office
11:24 Arrive at Diet
11:25 Enter Upper House President’s Room

PM
12:01 Leave room
12:03 Enter State Ministers’ Room
12:15 Leave room
12:16 Enter Upper House President’s Reception Room
12:21 Leave room, enter Upper House Plenary Meeting Hall. Attend Upper House Plenary Session
02:01 Leave seat during proceedings
02:02 Enter State Ministers’ Room
02:08 Leave room
02:11 Enter Lower House 16th Committee Members’ Room
02:12 Lower House Committee on Health, Labour, and Welfare recommences
03:07 Speak with Chairman of LDP Diet Affairs Committee Sato Tsutomu
03:08 Finish speaking with Mr. Sato
04:01 Leave seat during Lower House Committee on Health, Labour, and Welfare proceedings
04:02 Depart from Diet
04:04 Arrive at office
04:05 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
04:41 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Saiki
04:42 Receive courtesy call from Director-General of UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Irina Bokova. Mr. Kato also attends
04:57 Courtesy call ends
04:58 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
05:18 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
05:24 Speak with President of Board of Audit Kawato Teruhiko. Receive Financial Year 2013 Audit Report
05:31 Finish receiving report
05:35 National Governors’ Conference
06:30 Conference ends
06:31 Meet with Chief Representative of New Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo
06:53 End meeting with Mr. Yamaguchi
07:30 Depart from office
07:46 Arrive at Fuji TV in Daiba, Tokyo. Appear on news program
09:07 Depart from Fuji TV
09:30 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Saturday, November 8, 2014

AM

12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stay at private residence throughout morning (no visitors)

PM
12:40 Depart from private residence
12:51 Arrive at official residence
01:00 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, Administrative Vice-Ministers for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke and Nagamine Yasumasa, Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo, and colleagues. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu also attends
02:58 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Sugiyama, Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Yamasaki, and colleagues
02:59 Meet with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
03:14 End meeting with Mr. Ohta
03:16 Depart from official residence
03:23 Arrive at hotel Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, Tokyo. Exercise at NAGOMI Spa and Fitness within hotel
06:40 Depart from hotel
07:01 Arrive at private residence

Sunday, November 9, 2014

AM

12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:36 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
09:03 Arrive at Haneda Airport
09:16 Interview open to all media: When asked “What is the aim of your foreign travel?” Mr. Abe answers “From here on out Japan wants to go on to proactively contribute to the world’s peace, stability and prosperity, and transmit this strong message.”
09:19 Interview ends
09:47 Depart from airport bound for visit to China, Myanmar, and Australia on private government aircraft with wife Akie

PM
(Local time in Beijing, China)
Arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport
Interview with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio at Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong in Beijing City
Conference with Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Joseph Harper
Interview with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira
Conference with President of Russia Vladimir Putin

Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones