Democratic Party News

With U.S. President Barack Obama coming to Tokyo on Friday, debate is heating up in Japan on what do about the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa.

A major Japanese daily yesterday said Japan will unlikely extend suffrage to ethnic Korean residents there.

Japan decided Tuesday to extend up to $5 billion in civilian aid to Afghanistan, in hopes of improving its relations with the United States ahead of Friday's visit to Japan by U.S. President Barack Obama who views the conflict-torn country as one of his major problems.

Agreeing to take forward their defence exchanges in a meaningful way, India and Japan today expressed commitment to contribute to bilateral and regional cooperation in areas like ASEAN Regional Forum, peacekeeping and disaster relief.

United States President Barack Obama will show whether his new Democratic administration has a cohesive and principled strategy to accommodate the new changes in the Asia - Pacific region when he makes his first official trip to Asia this week.

The United States is ready to discuss the possibility of forming a special bilateral pact with Japan to address environmental damage at U.S. military bases in Japan, the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture said Friday.

Japan's new government faces a dilemma over how to keep its campaign promises while reining in huge debt, a fragile economy that could slip back into recession, and strains in ties with close security ally the United States.

"You never know how all the different pieces in your life are going to come together," says Ambassador John V. Roos '80 . A Silicon Valley heavy hitter, Roos should know.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama faced a new scandal Monday when it was revealed he failed to declare income from stock sales, giving the opposition ammunition heading into a three-day Lower House Budget Committee session.

The Democratic Party of Japan -led government will seek to enhance cooperation with China in the wake of its "return to Asia" policy, experts said ahead of the annual Beijing-Tokyo Forum, which begins today.

Kinky Friedman says that it's time to stop telling one of his favorite jokes - that he's too young for Medicare and too old for women too care.

Japan set the stage for a huge bailout of Japan Airlines on Thursday, telling the struggling carrier to turn to a state-backed body for assistance - a move that ruled out a tougher stance by a new left-leaning government in Tokyo against the country's powerful corporations.

Reporting from Tokyo and Seoul - Several politicians in South Korea and Japan have begun exploring the possibility of a joint history textbook between their nations and China.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama faced questions in the Diet for the first time since his Democratic Party of Japan was elected to lead the nation on Wednesday, saying that he and his government would "take responsibility for any failings." Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama delivers his policy speech at Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Oct.

Recently Reuters reported about the information declassified at the national archives of George Washington University that the United States and Japan reached an agreement on allowing U.S.-made nuclear weapons into Japanese territory when U.S.-Japan Security Treaty was revised in 1960.

Finding financial sources for the bloated fiscal 2010 budget and solving problems related to the nation's security policy should top the to-do list of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet.

In his first meeting with the Taiwan news media last week, newly arrived American Institute in Taiwan Taipei representative William A. Stanton focussed on reemphasizing that there will be no change in Washington's policy toward Taiwan under the new Democratic administration of President Barack Obama in line with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act .

TOKYO: Japana s Democratic Party won two by-elections for parliamenta s upper house Sunday, media projections showed, a nod of voter approval in the first national polls since the party took power last month.

ABOARD THE JS KURAMA: Japan's navy held its triennial fleet review on Sunday, its first major demonstration of power under the country's new government, which has vowed to cut back on some of its already limited activities overseas.

THE ruling Democratic Party of Japan won two by-elections for Parliament's Upper House on Sunday, in a sign of voter approval in the first national polls since it took power last month.