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The conservative turn in Japanese politics continues unabated. In a mockery of the American obsession with youth, and the American media's criticism of one of the current crop of presidential contenders for having survived to seventy two, sixty eight year old Taro Aso was elevated to the post of Prime Minister of Japan. Joseph Coleman, Straight-talking conservative elected Japanese PM, Daily Yomiuri Online (from AP sources), September 24, 2008. "In his first news conference as premier, he also vowed to rescue the ruling party from disaster in parliamentary elections. He stacked his Cabinet with fellow right-leaning veterans and pledged to go head-to-head with the resurgent opposition. "I appointed the right people in the right jobs so that we can live up to the people's expectations," Aso said. "We will head into the elections with this lineup, and will have a fair fight."" Id.

Aso is an interesting choice--he is conservative, even by Japanese standards. Aso "served as foreign minister for nearly two years in the Cabinets of former Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe" Cabinet picks show Aso's stripes / New prime minister aims to leave mark in diplomatic, economic policies, Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Sept. 25, 2008. He speaks fluent English (id.). He is a Roman Catholic, in a Buddhist and Shinto country. Straight-talking conservative elected Japanese PM, supra. Aso is said to be a populist as well. "Aso has a reputation as a straight-talking conservative with a fighter's instinct: He triumphed Wednesday after a seven-year struggle to become prime minister. Aso has also managed a rare feat among LDP members - he's popular among the young. He's an avid fan of "manga" comic books, and has spent years arguing that Japan should use its pop culture as a diplomatic tool."Straight-talking conservative elected Japanese PM, supra.

One of the more interesting actions taken in the first days of his leadership was to seek the beginnings of an amalgamation of the Finance Ministry and the Financial Services Agency. "Aso explained he put one minister in charge of both the Finance Ministry and the Financial Services Agency because it was feasible and to bring the nation more in line with other countries." Cabinet picks show Aso's stripes / New prime minister aims to leave mark in diplomatic, economic policies, Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Sept. 25, 2008. This represents a retreat from the Government's institutional reaction to the great bank crisis of the 1990s, a reaction that played well to national stakeholders and the media, all anxious for palpable signs of actions from an ossified state apparatus, but which effectively served little substantive purpose.

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto started splitting the operations of the fiscal and monetary policies under his administrative reform drive in the 1990s, when the Finance Ministry came under criticism over its protective measures for the financial industry. In 1998, the now defunct Financial Supervisory Agency, the current Financial Services Agency, was established to tackle the serious financial crisis after a string of major Japanese banks collapsed. Now the Finance Ministry shoulders fiscal and international monetary policies, while the FSA handles domestic monetary policies. Under the administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the FSA, led then by Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of financial services, set about disposing of nonperforming loans.

Cabinet picks show Aso's stripes / New prime minister aims to leave mark in diplomatic, economic policies, supra. The interesting question will be whether Aso is engaging in more window dressing or if he is preparing to meet the financial crisis as its washes over Japan in the next several weeks. Japan will have to get ready to shore up its banks. The issue will be whether it is seek to save its profitable working entities and the value of underlying performing assets within the financial sector or if he will attempt, like the American President, to protect individuals and entities. on the basis of the ceding of virtually dictatorial powers to the executives and his creatures.

More interesting still, at least from the perspective of the competition for Japan's allegiance between the United States and China, is Jiyu to Hanei no Ko.

"In his diplomatic vision titled "Jiyu to Hanei no Ko" (Arc of Freedom and Prosperity), released while he was foreign minister, Aso wrote of the need to provide aid to countries that share the same values as Japan, such as democracy and market economy. Some pundits who take this viewpoint as an indication of his intention to contain China and Russia wonder how far Aso will follow through on this stance as prime minister."

Cabinet picks show Aso's stripes / New prime minister aims to leave mark in diplomatic, economic policies, supra. But the ramifications are greater than the simpleminded assessment of tilting toward the United States and away from China. First, the tilting will not affect Japan's pursuit of a fundamentally profitable relationship with China. The Chinese understand this and did their part to convey their willingness to participate in relations of that sort. ""Premier Wen Jiabao has sent a congratulatory message to Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement. Stressing that China and Japan were important neighbors, Liu said it was in the fundamental interests of both nations and their citizens to maintain long-term, healthy and steady bilateral ties." China congratulates Japan's Aso on becoming prime minister, People's Daily Online, Sept. 24, 2008. The quoted language and the report suggests both a willingness to continue relations and a warning about any turn in Sino Japanese relations."Sound China-Japan ties will also be of great significance to the peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world, the spokesman said. " Id. A few days earlier the top leadership of China had emphasized this point indirectly.

China would deepen economic and trade cooperation and step up strategic and mutually beneficial relations with Japan, Chinese President Hu Jintao said on September 21. "China hopes the two sides would work together to enhance economic and trade cooperation, aiming at realizing mutual benefit and development," Hu told members of a delegation from the Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade (JCAET)."

Chinese president pledges closer economic ties with Japan, News of the Communist Party of China, September 22, 2008.

But Jiyu to Hanei no Ko is likely to have a greater impact on Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, and Korea than it will on China. It would not be unexpected to see a greater push for regional trade ties grounded in a common set of core values. And form a certain perspective the idea makes sense. As much sense, for example, as Brazil's attempts to unite Latin America into a regional trading block to aggregate economic power against the great power concentrations of the United States, China, India, and the E.U. The difficulty for Japan will be to show that Jiyu to Hanei no Ko is different from the Greater East Asian Co-Properity Sphere (?????? Dai-t?-a Ky?eiken) without a military presence. Too great an emphasis in the wrong direction could backfire with jittery neighbors with long memories and greater flexibility on choosing friends.

And its neighbors might be either made less comfortable or reassured by the way in which Aso handles Japan's increasing willingness to project its military power. Yes, its military power. For there is little to suggest that Japan's participation in global anti-terrorism operations will not aid its military operations in the long run. News reports stated that at his first foreign speech, before the United Nations, "Aso will say the nation plans to continue contributing to U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan. He will refrain from promising the continuation of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean refueling mission to support those efforts, because it is uncertain whether the government can pass a bill to revise the Antiterrorism Law authorizing the MSDF undertaking." Aso to tout antiterrorism policies in U.N. speech, Daily Yomiuri Online, Sept. 25, 2008.

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