Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule May 28-June 10

May 28, 2012 (MON)

AM
09:32 Office
09:57 Mr. Hosono, Minister of Environment
10:23 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, joins
10:44 Mr. Edano and Mr. Hosono leave
11:03 Mr. Honda, Special Advisor to PM
11:18 Mr. Honda leaves

PM
12:26 Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery; attend a ceremony and pay flower tribute
12:55 Office
01:49 Ceremony to Present the Prime Minister’s Commendations for Contributors to Consumer Support
02:00 Ceremony adjourns
04:53 Press group interview
05:33 Ms. Cousin, Executive Director of United Nations World Food Program; Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Seiichiro Dokyu, DPJ Lower House member, also attend
05:50 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor for PM
06:17 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
06:56 Residence

May 29, 2012 (TUE)

AM
07:47 Office
07:55 Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters
08:17 Ministerial meeting
08:31 Mr. Gemba, Minister of Foreign Affairs
09:01 Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, Foreign Minister of Iraq
09:36 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
10:16 Both leaves

PM
12:52 Parliament
01:02 The Lower House Plenary Session
04:52 Office
05:10 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Tanaka, DPJ vice president; and Mr. Ritsuo Hosokawa, Former Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare
06:35 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:59 Residence

May 30, 2012 (WED)

AM
08:59 Office
09:19 Conference call with President Rousseff of Brazil
10:02 Courtesy Call from the United States Cherry Blossom Queen
10:15 Mr. Sakuji Tanaka, next President of Rotary International; Mr. Ritsuo Hosokawa, Former Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare, attends
10:54 DPJ Headquarters
11:00 Meeting with Ichiro Ozawa, former President of DPJ; Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General, attends

PM
12:33 Meeting ends
12:34 Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General
01:08 Office
01:09 Press interview
01:50 Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
02:00 Mr. Nagahama leaves
02:52 Mr. Sasae, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs
03:23 Mr. Sasae leaves
05:01 Video message recording for “Industry All Global Union” (labor union) formation assembly
05:20 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:03 Japan-Paraguay Summit Meeting
06:35 Dinner party hosted by Prime Minister
07:46 See off President Lugo of Paraguay
07:50 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; and Mr. Hosono, Minister of State for the Nuclear Power Policy and Administration
08:04 Meeting among Four Ministers on the Issue of Nuclear Power Stations; Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, and Mr. Sengoku, Deputy Chief of DPJ Policy Research Council, also attend
08:29 Residence

May 31, 2012 (THU)

AM
08:26 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
08:45 Mr. Okada leaves
09:32 Office
10:52 Mr. Nakagawa, Minister of State for Gender Equality
11:16 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; and Mr. Suzuki, Director General of Small and Medium Enterprise Agency

PM
12:01 Lunch with Mr. Hirokazu, Chair of Cabinet Committee; and other chairpersons; Mr. Mizuoka, Special Advisor to PM, also attends
12:39 Lunch ends
04:33 Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for National Policy
05:10 Mr. Kitamura, Head of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; and Mr. Mukuki, Director of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center
05:17 Mr. Mukuki leaves
05:30 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:32 Mr. Wing-Kun Tam, Lions Clubs International President; Mr. Koriki Jojima, DPJ Lower House member, also attends
06:00 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
07:00 Dinner with Mr. Hata, DPJ Upper House Parliamentary Affairs Chair, and Mr. Takeuchi, Deputy Chair, at Sushi Ken in Roppongi, Tokyo; Mr. Mizuoka attends
09:40 Residence

June 1, 2012 (FRI)

AM
07:58 Parliament
08:04 Headquarters for Administrative Reform Implementation
08:23 Ministerial meeting
08:37 Office
09:14 Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
09:29 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
10:12 Both leave

PM
12:15 Residence; Lunch with Mr. Shuji Inatomi, and other members of Special Committee on Tax System; Mr. Tezuka and Mr. Terada, Special Advisor to PM, attend
12:49 Parliament
01:02 The Lower House Plenary Session
03:21 Office
03:24 Mr. Maehara, chairperson of DPJ Policy Research Council
03:35 Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General
04:26 Mr. Koshiishi leaves
05:00 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
06:57 Residence
06:58 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
07:22 Mr. Okada leaves

June 2, 2012 (SAT)

AM
Residence

PM
05:57 Hotel New Otani; dinner with Mr. Fujio Cho, Chairman of Toyota Mortor Corp; Mr. Motoyuki Oka, Chairman of Sumitomo Corp; Mr. Shoichiro Suzuki, Chairman of Oji Paper Group; Mr. Hirokazu Ikeda, Special Adviser of Asahi Group Holdings
08:18 Residence

June 3, 2012 (SUN)

AM
10:35 DPJ Headquarters
10:57 Meeting with Ichiro Ozawa, former President of DPJ; Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General, attends

PM
12:06 Meeting ends
12:07 Mr. Koshiishi
12:53 Residence
12:54 Press interview
12:58 Interview ends
02:55 Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary
03:35 Mr. Fujimura leaves

June 4, 2012 (MON)

AM
09:02 Office
10:30 Mr. Jimi, President of the People’s New Party (Kokumin Shinto); Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General; and Mr. Shimoji, Secretary-General of the People’s New Party
10:40 Meeting ends
11:31 Extraordinary ministerial meeting

PM
12:01 Mr. Jimi, President of the People’s New Party (Kokumin Shinto); Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General; and Mr. Shimoji, Secretary-General of the People’s New Party
12:20 Three DPJ/Government Executive Meeting
01:07 Cabinet formation headquarters
01:26 Press conference
01:50 Invite new ministers
03:45 Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for National Policy; and Mr. Goto, Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office
04:05 Mr. Goto leaves
04:27 Mr. Furukawa leaves
04:56 Imperial palace: report to emperor; attestation ceremony of new ministers and vice ministers
06:27 Office
07:01 The Council on National Strategy and Policy
08:29 Issue appointment decree to new ministers
08:39 The first ministerial meeting
08:57 Photo shoot with ministers
09:00 Photo shoot with vice ministers
09:19 Residence

June 5, 2012 (TUE)

AM
08:19 Parliament
08:24 Ministerial meeting
08:38Mr. Yosuke Kondo, DPJ Lower House member
08:53 office
09:00 Issue appointment of Mr. Nobuo Matsuno to Parliamentary Secretary of Justice; Issue Appointment of Mr. Seizo Wakabayashi to Parliamentary Secretary of Finance and Reconstruction; Photo shoot
09:15 Mr. Gemba, Minister of Foreign Affairs
10:10 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
10:33 Mr. Saito leaves
11:58 Lunch with Mr. Morimoto, Minister of Defense; Mr. Watanabe, Senior Vice Minister of Defense; Mr. Shimojo and Mr. Jimpu, Parliamentary Secretaries of Defense; and Mr. Kanazawa, Administrative Vice Minister of Defense; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM

PM
12:31 Lunch ends
01:30 Reconstruction Promotion Committee
02:08 the General Assembly of the Nippon Keidanren
02:43 Office
03:25 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
03:40 Mr. Saito leaves
04:55 Mr. Saito enters again
05:29 Mr. Ogushi, Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office
05:40 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:08 Residence

June 6, 2012 (WED)

AM
09:59 The General Meeting of the Japan Association of City Mayors at Hotel New Otani
10:32 Office
11:00 Courtesy Call from the Kishu Plum Society; Mr. Kimiyoshi Tamaki, DPJ Lower House member and others attend
11:33 Mr. Jojima, DPJ Parliamentary Affairs Chair
11:54 Residence

PM
12:10 Office
01:46 Courtesy Call from the attendees of Japan-China Journalist Exchange Conference
02:18 Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
02:28 Mr. Noriyuki Kazaoka and Mr. Shingo Haketa, New and Old Director-General of the Imperial household Agency
02:40 Both leave
04:31 Proposal from the Economists for Peace and Security Japan (EPS); Mr. Masahiro Kawai, Asian Development Bank Research Institute President; Mr. Fujii, DPJ Tax Policy Research Council Chair, and Mr. Honda, Special Advisor to PM, attend.
04:50 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:31 Meeting with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, and the Signing Ceremony for the Joint Statement
06:03 Dinner party hosted by Prime Minister
06:56 See off President Sargsyan
07:17 Funeral of Akira Toyohara, DPJ Deputy Director-General
07:38 Residence

June 7, 2012 (THU)

AM
09:01 Imperial Palace; sign condolences for Prince Tomohito
09:18 Residence
08:56 Sign condolences at houses of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, Prince Mikasa, and Prince Takamado at Akasakagoyochi
10:13 Sign condolences at Prince Katsura
10:24 Residence
10:47 Office

PM
12:01 Lunch with Special Advisors Nagashima, Tezuka, Terada, Honda, and Mizuoka
12:36 Lunch ends
02:56 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry
03:02 Mr. Takahara, Director-General, Agency for Natural resources and Energy, joins
03:11 Mr. Hosono, Minister of State for the Nuclear Power Policy and Administration; and Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for National Policy, join
03:35 Mr. Furukawa leaves
03:40 Mr. Takahara leaves
04:01 Mr. Edano and Mr. Hosono leave
04:45 Mr. Satsuki Eda, DPJ Upper House member
05:04 Mr. Kitamura, Head of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; and Mr. Mukuki, Director of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center
05:09 Mr. Mukuki leaves
05:30 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:40 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor
06:28 Residence

June 8, 2012 (FRI)

AM
09:08 Office
09:16 Ministerial meeting
09:33 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
09:59 Mr. Jojima, DPJ Parliamentary Affairs Chair
10:18 Mr. Jojima leaves
11:35 Meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaci
11:53 See off Prime Minister Thaci

PM
12:53 Parliament
01:02 The Lower House Plenary Session
01:16 Office
02:00 Mr. Masao Ishizu, DPJ Lower House member; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM, attends
02:45 Mr. Yamaguchi, Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nishimiya, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of economics; Mr. Nakao, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs; Mr. Okada, Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Mr. Mizuoka and Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisors for PM attend
03:27 Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy
03:54 Mr. Muneo Suzuki, President of True Democracy, Daichi Party; Mr. Tezuka attends
04:34 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
04:45 Mr. Tezuka
05:30 Mr. Tezuka leaves
06:01 Press conference
06:24 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; Mr. Hosono, Minister of Environment; Mr. Tatsuo Hirano, Minister for Reconstruction in the Response to the East Japan Earthquake; and Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
06:57 Mr. Edano; Mr. Adachi, Administrative Vice Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; and Mr. Ueda, Director-General of Manufacturing Industry Bureau
07:17 Mr. Takagi, DPJ Election Affairs Chair
07:44 Residence

June 9, 2012 (SAT)

AM
Residence

PM
05:54 The Capitol Hotel Tokyu. Dinner with Mr. Nobuaki Koga, President of Japanese Trade Union Confederation, at a Japanese restaurant Suiren
08:23 Residence

June 10, 2012 (SUN)

AM
Residence

PM
12:28 Hotel the Prince Park Tower Tokyo, The Second Gathering with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Hosted by Japan Akademeia
01:46 Residence

India and the last jubilee queen

The Hindu of India published today (6/16/12) a piece by former APP intern and current Harvard PhD candidate Dinyar Patel on the last time that a diamond jubilee for a British monarch was celebrated -- 1897 for Queen Victoria -- and the significance of this moment in Indian nationalist history. 

  

Last week's diamond jubilee celebrations in London, marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign on the British throne, garnered relatively limited coverage in the Indian media. While several British South Asians played a prominent role in the festivities, any Indian citizens in attendance were more than likely curious tourists. Amongst the hundreds of boats on the Thames was one carrying the Indian tricolour, which, flying amidst the flags of other Commonwealth nations, provided perhaps the only visible reminder that a British Empire even existed.

What a difference a century makes. As celebrations for Elizabeth continue, it is worthwhile to reflect on the last time that a diamond jubilee was celebrated. That was in 1897, when the aged monarch, Victoria, was also the Kaiser-e-Hind, the Empress of India. Consequently, India played a much bigger role in the jubilee, and the jubilee, in turn, had much greater significance for India. The jubilee was an important moment for India in two ways. Firstly, in an imperial system that placed great weight on public displays of loyalty, it gave various Indian communities an opportunity to jockey for political capital and recognition. Secondly, the jubilee presented a conundrum to Indian nationalists. How best to respond? How should congratulatory messages be balanced with political protest? Ultimately, this question helped widen fissures between emerging moderate and radical factions. By the time the jubilee festivities ended in late 1897, the radicals had proven themselves to be a force with which to be reckoned.

Addresses of loyalty

Victoria's diamond jubilee was designed to demonstrate the strength and diversity of the British Empire. The festivities, which like Elizabeth's, occurred under mercurial June skies, featured representatives from across the colonies, ranging from Dayaks from Borneo to Hausas from western Africa. Over forty thousand soldiers from all parts of the empire descended on London. Within India, British administrators sought to recreate a microcosm of this pomp and splendour. They invited delegations to present addresses of loyalty and thanks to the viceroy in the summer capital of Shimla. From across the subcontinent streamed in official representatives of the Hindus of Lahore, Khojas of Bombay, Awadhi taluqdars, and Muslim Bengali women.

Other Indians lost no opportunity for lavish and oftentimes servile demonstrations of their loyalty to the crown. Princes held darbars, fed thousands of poor people, and laid foundation stones for new hospitals and schools to be named after the queen. Prayer meetings were organised in temples and mosques across the country. Residents of Lahore argued over how best to erect a statue of Victoria. Two hundred Parsi priests packed into the confines of Bombay's Wadia Atash Behram in order to deliver a special jashan prayer for the monarch. In Ajmer, dargah custodians pitched in to organise a large fair, while the Bene Israelis of Ahmedabad decided to collectively illuminate their houses. The Jains of Calcutta made what was perhaps the best use of an obligatory message of congratulation: they appealed to Victoria to ban all animal slaughter on her jubilee day. These memorials, darbars, festivals, and prayers were readily picked up by the British press, as well as by European papers in India, in order to reinforce the common belief that loyalty to British rule, alone, united India's diverse and teeming multitudes.

But celebrations and flowery messages barely masked what was otherwise a dark year in Indian history. Famine had swept over much of the north and west, followed soon after by a major plague epidemic. These tragedies were compounded by the Raj's relatively apathetic response to the famine and its imposition of draconian plague regulations. Leaders of the Indian National Congress, an organisation barely 12 years old, were at loggerheads as to how to balance declarations of loyalty with stern condemnation of British policy. At their December 1896 meeting in Calcutta, the Congress passed a feeble resolution congratulating the queen. This sent Henry M. Hyndman, the father of British socialism and an outspoken critic of British rule in India, into a fit of rage. ‘Congratulations for what?' he asked his friend, Dadabhai Naoroji, in January 1897. ‘For having ruined India for two or three generations to come? It is pitiful.'

Hyndman's relationship with Naoroji forms an important part of the story of India's response to the jubilee. Naoroji was then in residence in London, where he had been agitating for Indian political reform. With increasingly horrific accounts of the famine and plague streaming in, Naoroji decided to throw in his lot with Hyndman's Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and launch a series of protests and public meetings across Britain. Both men agreed that a steady drain of wealth and resources by the British were the root causes of India's poverty and misery. They had both spent the last several decades clamouring for more Indian representation in the government.

But now their campaign took a much more radical turn, employing language that did not spare the Kaiser-i-Hind. The silver jubilee, Hyndman told a mass meeting that he organised with Naoroji in February, should be celebrated in a manner befitting a monarch who had been ‘the Empress of Famine and the Queen of Black Death.' Naoroji wrote directly to the queen in the same month, accusing the British of inflicting upon Indians “all the scourges of the world[:] war, pestilence, and famine.” Naoroji and Hyndman continued to hold rallies and demonstrations in the months leading up to the jubilee.

Platform for demonstration

More moderate voices in the Congress also decided to turn the jubilee into a platform for demonstration. G.K. Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea, Dinsha Wacha, and Subramania Iyer — who had been called to London as witnesses for the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure (Welby Commission) — launched their own speaking tour around England and Scotland. In May, M.G. Ranade informed Naoroji about a movement afoot to hold “a Congress meeting in London in connexion with the jubilee festivities.” A London Congress, Ranade hoped, would provide an opportunity for Indian political associations to present their petitions directly to the India Office. William Wedderburn, another close British ally of the Congress, urged Ranade to stir up ferment in India for major political reforms. “Unless some clear expression of Indian public opinion is placed before the British public,” he argued, “it will be assumed that a few KCSIs [Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India] &c to official favorites is all that the people of India desire.”

Ultimately, nothing came of the proposal for a London Congress. Naoroji and Hyndman's joint campaign came to a grinding halt. Naoroji, it appears, got cold feet from Hyndman's exhortations for Indians to rise up in open and violent rebellion against their British masters, and began distancing himself from the SDF. The defining jubilee moment for India happened not in London but in Poona, where several individuals were following a similar line of thought to Hyndman's. On the night of 22 June, as carriages departed jubilee ceremonies held at Ganeshkhind, the governor of Bombay's official Poona residence, two men leaped out of the dark and fatally shot the hated local plague commissioner, W.C. Rand, and a young British lieutenant, Charles Ayerst. The assailants were, of course, the Chapekar brothers, and their action produced shockwaves across the British Empire, completely drowning out, for the moment, the memorials, petitions, and protests of the Congress moderates.

Aside from bringing a bloody end to jubilee ceremonies in India, the Chapekar brothers helped bolster the prominence of an emerging band of extremist and revolutionary nationalists. B.G. Tilak, immediately suspected of complicity in the assassinations, shot to all-India fame in his ensuing trial for sedition. It was only after his sentencing in late 1897 that the honorific title of Lokmanya was bestowed upon him. Hyndman, who grew increasingly disillusioned with Naoroji and the moderates in the Congress, continued to call for revolution in India, defended Tilak in the press, and, in due time, linked up with one of Tilak's young friends, Shyamji Krishna Varma, the founder of India House in London, the premier laboratory for Indian revolutionary activity. It was people like Hyndman, rather than moderate voices such as Wedderburn and A.O. Hume, who served as inspiration for a rising generation of radicals.

For India, therefore, Victoria's diamond jubilee proved to be much more than an opportunity for restrained political protest, leave alone sycophantic memorials, deputations, and displays of loyalty. Instead, 1897 became an important turning point in the nationalist movement. The Poona assassinations raised the spectre of more extremist activity in disaffected regions. By the end of the year, Congress moderates had fully realised the potent threat that radicals — especially charismatic ones such as Tilak — posed to their dominance of the party. With little surprise, therefore, when the Amraoti Congress was held in December 1897, many Congress leaders tried to leverage the Lokmanya's mass appeal through sympathetic resolutions and speeches. Victoria's grand jubilee celebrations, it appears, were already a distant memory.

Dinyar Patel is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Harvard University. Some of the material quoted here will be published in the forthcoming volume, The Grand Old Man of India: Selections from the Dadabhai Naoroji Papers (Oxford University Press), which he is co-editing with S.R. Mehrotra.

This week in Washington

RETHINKING U.S. SECURITY: NAVIGATING A WORLD IN TRANSITION. 6/13, 9:00am-7:30pm, lunch, reception, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Center for New American Security (CNAS). Keynote Address: The Asia-Pacific Century, The Honorable Dr. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Speakers include: Sultan al-Qassemi, The National Newspaper; Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Ret.), CNAS; Dr. Nora Bensahel, CNAS; Phillip Carter, Caerus Associates; Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post; Dr. Andrew Exum, CNAS; Dr. Peter Feaver, Duke University; Michèle Flournoy, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; Richard Fontaine, CNAS; The Honorable Robert Ford, U.S. Ambassador to Syria; Dr. Margaret Harrell, CNAS; Dr. Bruce Jentleson, Duke University; Dr. Robert Kagan, The Brookings Institution; Dr. Colin Kahl, CNAS; Dr. Kristin Lord, CNAS; Major Fernando Lujan, USA, CNAS; Sebastian Mallaby, Council on Foreign Relations; Michael Singh, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Robert Zoellick, World Bank.

GLOBAL VIEWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 6/13, 11:00am-Noon, Washington, DC. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Andrew Kohut, President, Pew Research Center; Moderator: H. Andrew Schwartz, Senior Vice President, CSIS.

THE EVOLVING U.S.-CHINA TRADE & INVESTMENT RELATIONSHIP. 6/14, 8:45am-2:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: US China Economic and Security Review Commission. Speakers: Judith Dean, Professor of International Economics, Brandeis University; Shang Jin Wei, N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy, Columbia University; Yingying Xu, Ph.D., Economist and Council Director, Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI); Michael McCarthy, Chief Legal Counsel, Infinera Corporation; James Fellowes, Chairman and CEO, Fellowes Inc. Ahmed Siddiqui, Founder of Go Go Mongo! ; Nova Daly, Public Policy Consultant, Wiley Rein LLP David Fagan, Partner, Covington and Burling LLP.

MARITIME BORDER ISSUES IN NORTHEAST ASIA. 6/15, Noon-2:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: East-West Center in Washington (EWC), Slavic Research Center and Border Studies Program of Hokkaido University. Speakers: Thomas Bickford, Center for Naval Analysis (TBC); Abraham Denmark, National Bureau of Asian Research; Akihiro Iwashita, Hokkaido University; Tony Payan, University of Texas at El Paso; Martin Pratt, Durham University, UK.

Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule May 16-28

May 16, 2012 (WED)

AM
10:00 Haneda Airport
10:23 See off Emperor Empress, visiting UK; Mr. Yokoji and Mr. Hirata, Chair of the Upper and Lower House
11:37 Office

PM
01:45 Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM;
01:50 Mr. Nagashima leaves
02:03 Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General
02:30 Mr. Koshiishi leaves
02:32 Mr. Mr. Kenji Yamagishi, President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Mr. Koichi Kato, DPJ Lower House Member, attends
02:42 Mr. Muneo Suzuki, Head of New Party Daichi- True Democrats Party; Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM, attends
03:08 Mr. Azumi, Minister of Finance
03:35 Mr. Tatsuo Hirano, Minister for Reconstruction in the Response to the East Japan Earthquake
04:07 Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Bessho, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of political affairs; Mr. Nishimiya, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of economics; Mr. Nakao, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs; and Mr. Nobuhiko Sasaki, Director-General of Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
04:40 Everyone leaves
04:42 Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
04:45 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
05:30 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:02 Issue appointment of Mr. Hidetoshi Kamesaki, Mitsubishi Corp. Advisor, to APEC Business Advisory Council member; Mr. Gembachiro Aihara, Mitsui Co. Advisor, also attends
06:09 Mr. Nakagawa, Minister of State for Disaster Management
06:42 Residence

May 18, 2012 (THU)

AM
09:02 Office
09:35 Reconstruction Promotion Council
10:05 Ministerial meeting
10:15 Ministerial Council on Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues
10:43 Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Bessho, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of political affairs; and Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
10:51 Issue appointment of Government Representative for TPP negotiation to Mr. Shotaro Oshima, former Foreign Affairs councilor
11:16 Mr. Akashi Uchikoshi, DPJ Lower House member
11:26 Mr. Uchikoshi leaves

PM
01:49 Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for National Policy
02:13 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
02:24 Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
02:44 Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary
03:04 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
03:27 Press interview
03:54 Haneda Airport
04:23 Leave for the United States for the Camp David Summit with Mrs. Noda
Local Time in Washington, DC,

PM
Arrive at the Dulles Airport
Arrive at Camp David on a U.S. military chopper
Meeting with Mr. Van Rompuy, President of the European Council; and Mr. Barroso President of European Commission
Welcome reception
G8 Summit Working Dinner
Stay in Camp David

Local Time May 19 (Fri), AM, Washington, DC

AM
Summit meeting with President Hollande of France
G8 Summit session 1

PM
Photo shoot
Working lunch
G8 Summit session
Press interview at Dulles Airport
Move from Camp David to Washington Dulles Airport
Leave Dulles Airport on a chartered airplane 

May 20, 2012 (Sat)

PM
10:07 Arrive at Haneda Airport with Mrs. Noda
10:45 Residence

May 21, 2012 (SUN)

AM
09:33 Imperial Palace, report of return
09:47 Office
09:58 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister; Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
10:31 Mr. Okada leaves
11:25 Mr. Tezuka leaves
11:54 Mr. Saito leaves

PM
12:52 Parliament
01:00 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems
05:13 Receives a Request from the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture and the Mayors of Eight Towns and Villages in Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture; Mr. Honda, Special Advisor to PM, also attends
05:43 Office
05:47 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:58 Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Bessho, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of political affairs; and Mr. Koshikawa, Director General of International Cooperation Bureau, MOFA
06:24 Everyone leaves
06:39 Residence

May 22, 2012 (MON)

AM
06:33 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
08:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
08:03 Mr. Saito leaves
08:13 Parliament
08:26 Ministerial meeting
09:00 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems

PM
12:05 Office
12:51 Parliament
01:00 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems
05:20 Office
05:49 Meeting with the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, Mr. Emanuel "Manny" Mori
06:00 Meeting with the President of the Republic of Palau, Mr. Johnson Toribiong
06:10 Meeting with Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa, Mr. Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi
06:33 Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
06:45 Courtesy Call from the Users of Assistance Dogs for Physically Disabled Persons; Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary, also attends
07:01 Mr. John C. Lechleiter, Chairman, President of Eli Lilly
07:10 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
07:40 Residence

May 23, 2012 (TUE)

AM
07:03 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
08:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
08:30 Mr. Tezuka joins again
08:49 Both leave
08:53 Parliament
09:01 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems

PM
12:08 Office
12:50 Parliament
01:00 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems
05:04 Office
05:34 Courtesy Call from the UK Members of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group
05:51 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:24 Meeting with the Premier of Niue, Mr. Toke Tufukia Talagi
06:35 Meeting with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mr. Henry Puna
06:46 Meeting with the President of the Republic of Kiribati, Mr. Anote Tong
06:59 Residence

May 24 (WED)

AM
07:48 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
08:33 Both leave
08:50 Parliament
09:00 Meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation Systems

PM
12:06 Three DPJ/Government Executive Meeting
12:54 Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General
01:04 Office
01:40 Mr. Fujii, DPJ Head of Tax Research Commission
02:13 Keidanren Hall, Otemachi, Tokyo, the India-Japan Business Summit
02:31 office
03:00 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
04:07 Meeting with the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Mr. Christopher Loeak
04:21 Meeting with the President of the Republic of Nauru, Mr. Sprent Arumogo Dabwido
04:30 Meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu, Mr. Meltek Sato Kilman Livtuvanu
05:17 Meeting of the Government Revitalization Unit
05:21 Leave the meeting
05:40 Meeting with Mr. HIna Rabbani Khar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan; Mr. Seishiro Eto, Chair of Japan-Pakistan Friendship Caucus, also attended
06:55 Banquet of the International Conference on the Future of Asia at the Imperial Hotel
08:00 Residence

May 25, 2012 (THU)

AM
08:00 Parliament
08:04 Headquarters for Ocean Policy
08:27 Ministerial meeting
08:37 Mr. Oakda, Deputy Prime Minister
08:52 Office
08:54 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry
09:14 Mr. Edano leaves
09:54 Mr. Jojima, Chair of DPJ Parliamentary Affairs Council
10:18 Mr. Jojima leaves
11:30 Mr. Kitamura, Head of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; and Mr. Mukuki, Director of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center
11:39 Mr. Mukuki leaves
11:59 Mr. Kitamura leaves

PM
01:00 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
01:16 Press interview
01:48 Haneda Airport
02:08 Leave for Okinawa to attend the Pacific Islands Leaders meeting
04:22 Arrive at Naha Airport
05:41 Hotel The Busena Terrace, Nago City, Okinawa
07:00 Meeting with Mr. Willy Telavi, Prime Minister of Tuvalu
07:26 Bankoku Shinryokan Okinawa
07:35 Welcome the leaders of summit participant countries
07:52 Dinner with the summit participants
09:18 See off the participants
09:37 Stay in the hotel

May 26, 2012 (FRI)

AM
08:50 Hotel The Busena Terrace, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga, Lord Tu'ivakano
09:09 Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Mr. Gordon Darcy Lilo
09:38 Bankoku Shinryokan Okinawa
09:39 Welcome the leaders of summit participant countries
09:52 Photo shoot
09:56 Summit meeting
11:35 Working lunch

PM
12:57 Summit meeting resumes
01:52 See off country leaders
02:14 Join press conference with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mr. Henry Puna
02:32 See off Mr. Puna
02:49 Hotel The Busena Terrace
04:38 Naha Airport
05:02 Leave Naha Airport
07:03 Arrive at Haneda Airport
08:13 Leave Haneda Airport for New Chitose Airport on ANN Flight 79
09:20 Arrive at New Chitose Airport
10:37 Dinner with Mr. Tarutoko, DPJ Acting Secretary General; Mr. Mitsui, DPJ Policy Research Council Vice Chair; and Mr. Takagi, Chair of DPJ Election Committee, at a Sushi restaurant Tatsutoshi in Sapporo
11:55 Sapporo Prince Hotel

May 27, 2012 (SAT)

AM
Leave Sapporo Prince Hotel
09:32 Hokkaido Sogo Taiiku Center, make remarks at the Zentoku (National Postmaster’s Association) general assembly [first sitting PM to do so]

10:54 New Chitose Airport
11:44 Leave the airport on ANA Flight 58

PM
12:59 Arrive at Haneda Airport
01:34 Residence
03:03 Haircut at CarjuRaja TIADO in the Capitol Hotel Tokyu, Nagatocho, Tokyo
04:36 Residence

May 28, 2012 (SUN)

AM
09:32 Office
09:57 Mr. Hosono, Minister of the Environment
10:23 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, joins
10:44 Both leave
11:03 Mr. Honda, Special Advisor to PM
11:18 Mr. Honda leaves

PM
12:26 Ceremony of Reverence at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery
12:55 Office
01:49 Ceremony to Present the Prime Minister’s Commendations for Contributors to Consumer Support
02:00 Ceremony ends
04:53 Press group interview
05:33 Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Head of the UN World Food Programme; Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, and Mr. Dokyu Seiichiro, DPJ Lower House member join
05:50 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:17 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary

Forced Labor in Tibet

The Laogai Research Foundation in cooperation with the Lantos Foundation, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is hosting a conference in Washington, DC, Laogai in Tibet, on the China’s forced-labor prison camps in Tibet and their consequences.

More than 30 Tibetans have set themselves afire to protest the Chinese government’s oppressive policies. Although all China’s people face human rights abuses, minorities like the Tibetans suffer the most. Tibetans who try to escape persecution often flee to Nepal, but are turned away because of China’s close ties with the Nepalese government. They are often sentenced to a term in the Laogai – China’s forced labor prison system.

Conference speakers include Tibetan Laogai survivors; Rep. Frank Wolf, Rep. Chris Smith, Dalai Lama representative Lobsang Nyandak, ICT President Mary Beth Markey, and ICT Vice President for Special Programs Bhuchung Tsering.

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 8:00 AM–3:00 PM
Rayburn House Office Building, Room B339, 45 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20515
Breakfast and lunch will be served. Please RSVP here.

MONDAY, JUNE 11, 9:00 AM–6:00 PM
Laogai Museum, 1734 20th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009. Please RSVP here.

TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 10:30 AM–11:30 AM
Victims of Communism Memorial, Massachusetts Ave. & New Jersey Ave., NW (two blocks from Union Station). A ceremony to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the memorial’s dedication, with remarks by Members of Congress, Ambassadors, other VIPs, and the presentation of wreaths and flowers from around the world. Light refreshments will be served.

No comfort

From Foreign Policy's The Cable blog:

Japanese comfort- women deniers force White House response

Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - 4:50 PM 

Right-wing Japanese lawmakers and activists have successfully rounded up more than 25,000 signatures for a petition on the White House website asking the Obama administration to force the state of New Jersey to take down a monument dedicated to the memory of "comfort women," the thousands of women kidnapped and raped by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The Bergen County executive dedicated a small monument in Palisades Park, New Jersey, in late 2010 that included the following inscription:

IN MEMORY OF THE MORE THAN 200,000 WOMEN AND GIRLS WHO WERE ABDUCTED BY THE ARMED FORCES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF IMPERIAL JAPAN. 1930's - 1945
KNOWN AS "COMFORT WOMEN," THEY ENDURED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS THAT NO PEOPLES SHOULD LEAVE UNRECOGNIZED. LET US NEVER FORGET THE HORRORS OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.


Ever since then, officials in the Japanese governmentand and elements of Japanese society that dispute the above facts related to the comfort women have been trying to get the monument, which is located in an area with a large Korean population, taken down.

Two delegations of Japanese officials visited Palisades Park last month to ask local leaders to remove the monument. One of the delegations was led by the Japanese consul-general in New York, Shigeyuki Hiroki. Local officials in New Jersey refused to remove the monument, even when offered cherry trees and other goodies from the Japanese government.

Now, the Japanese comfort-women deniers have a new tactic -- to go straight to the White House. They started a petition on the White House's official website and have conducted a successful campaign resulting in over 28,000 signatures.

"We petition the Obama administration to: Remove the monument and not to support any international harassment related to this issue against the people of Japan," the petition reads. "False accusations regarding the South Korean comfort women issue have disgraced the people of Japan for decades. Over the past few years it has come to light that many of the original charges were false or completely fabricated."

"Yet despite this new information, the United States continues to lend credence to the original false charges by memorializing the comfort women in a monument in New Jersey and a street name in New York. Not only is this perpetrating historical untruths, but it also leads unnecessary racial conflict and suffering of people of Japanese ancestry," the petition reads. "We strongly request President Obama to remove the monument and not to support any international harassment related to this issue against the people of Japan."

According to the White House website, the administration must give an official response to any petition that receives 25,000 signatures within 30 days of when it was originally posted. The Japanese comfort women petition crossed that threshold more than a week ahead of its June 9 deadline.
The massive amount of signatures came mostly from Japan and due to the direct advocacy of several Japanese lawmakers and former officials. A Japanese resident in the United States, by the name of Yasuko R, created the petition. A supporter can sign for the petition once a day.

The petition was advertised in Japan on the websites of Japanese lawmakers Eriko Yamatani and Keiji Furuya, who were part of one of the delegations that visited New Jersey, which included family members of some of the 13 Japanese citizens that were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nippon Kaigi, a right-wing Japanese organization, supported the petition's call to remove the monument, as did other organizations, including Nippon Kaigi Local Government (Pride of Japan), and The Spirit of Japan Party (Nihon Soshin To), which posted directions on how Japanese citizens could participate in the petition.

Major advocacy for the petition came from Toshio Tamogami, the former Japanese Air Force chief of staff who was fired in 2009 after creating an international incident by writing in an essay that Japan was "not an aggressor nation" in World War II. Tamogami not only called for petition signatures on his website, he gave instructions in Japanese for users to log onto the White House website so they could be part of the effort.

The comfort women issue and Japan's reluctance to come to terms with its wartime actions is still the No. 1 irritant in Japan's relations with its neighbors. For U.S.-based experts that are critical of Japan's handling of the issue, the petition and its underlying argument are doing great damage to Japan's ability to move past the events of the war.

"Is the Japanese right so strung out, so unpopular that it is reduced to these silly international stunts to get attention? Have they become so irrelevant that they have to prop up Comfort Women and Abductees of the North Koreans for attention? They have become as pathetic as their ideas," said Mindy Kotler, the founder of Asia Policy Point, a non-profit organization that does research on Japan.

She said one part of the problem is the failure of the U.S. government to connect its human rights and women's rights policies to Japan.

"We have built and demanded to build institutions around the world to address war crimes and human rights. In regard to historical war crimes, we have a bureau in the State Department on the Holocaust* and even appointed an ambassador in the late 1990s to deal with German and Austrian war crimes," she said. "But we have done nothing that addresses the lingering, if not festering problems of Japan's reluctantly acknowledged war crimes. It eats away at our alliances and undermines our ‘shared values.'"

The White House petition response should be posted "in a timely manner," according to the website.

*The Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Douglas Davidson

The Office seeks to bring a measure of justice and assistance to Holocaust victims and their families and to create an infrastructure to assure that the Holocaust is remembered properly and accurately. This is an important issue in our bilateral relations with countries of central and eastern Europe and with the state of Israel.

Prime Minster of Japan's Schedule May 7-15

May 7, 2012 (MON)

AM
09:30 Office
10:00 Mr. Jin Matsubara, Minister for the Abduction Issue
10:18 Mr. Matsubara leaves
11:31 Mr. Jojima, Chairman of DPJ Parliamentary Affairs Council
11:47 Mr. Jojima leaves

PM
02:02 Mr. Koshiishi, DPJ Secretary General
02:25 Mr. Koshiishi leaves
02:36 Mr. Masayuki Naoshima, Upper House Member and Chairman of DPJ Australia Friendship Caucus
02:58 Mr. Naoshima leaves
03:03 Mr. Kitamura, Head of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; Mr. Nishi, Director-General of the Bureau of Defense Policy, Ministry of Defense; and Mr. Kinomura, Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters
03:14 Mr. Nishi and Mr. Kinomura leaves
03:28 Mr. Kitamura leaves
03:29 Mr. Maehara, chairperson of DPJ Policy Research Council
03:57 Mr. Maehara leaves
04:06 Mr. Suematsu, Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office
04:27 Mr. Suematsu leaves
04:30 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
05:02 Council on Administrative Reform
05:09 Office
05:10 Mr. So Yamaguchi, Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs; Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Bessho, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of political affairs; and Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
05:42 Mr. Yamaguchi, Mr. Nagashima, Mr. Bessho, and Mr. Sugiyama leave
05:43 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Takahara, Director-General, Agency for Natural resources and Energy, join
05:59 Mr. Takahara leaves
06:14 Mr. Edano, Mr. Fujimura, and Mr. Saito leave
06:30 Tele-conference with Mr. Hollande, French President Elect
06:53 Residence

May 8, 2012 (TUE)

AM
07:31 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
08:38 Mr. Saito and Mr. Tezuka leave the residence
09:07 Office
09:16 Ministerial meeting
09:40 Meeting ends. Office
10:11 Imperial Palace, Spring decoration ceremony
11:01 Office

PM
12:50 Parliament
01:02 The Lower House Plenary Session
04:29 Office
04:31 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister; Mr. Azumi, Minister of Finance; and Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary
05:14 Everyone leaves
05:15 Mr. Sasae, Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs; and Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
05:34 Mr. Sugiyama leaves
05:36 Mr. Sasae leaves
05:37 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
06:11 Hotel New Otani, Kioicho, Tokyo
06:13 Reception of DPJ Local Government members Forum National Workshop
06:51 Japanese Restaurant “Kurosawa”, Nagatacho, Dinner with Mr. Hiroshi Hoshi, Asahi Shimbun Editorial board member; Mr. Takao Iwami, Mainichi Shimbun Visiting Editorial Board Member; and Goro Hashimoto, Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Headquarters Special Editorial Board Member
09:44 Residence

May 9, 2012 (WED)

AM
08:55 Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department- Kanda Driver’s License Renew Center: Renews his driver’s license
10:01 Office
10:24 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
10:29 Mr. Saito leaves
10:30 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
10:41 Mr. Okada leaves
10:55 Mr. Sonoda, Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office; Mr. Takashi Matsumoto, Administrative Vice Minister of Cabinet Office; and Ms. Atsuko Muraki, Director-General for Policy Planning
11:16 Everyone leaves

PM
01:21 Mr. Katagiri, Commissioner-General of National Police Agency
01:58 Mr. Katagiri leaves
01:59 Mr. Yoshiaki Tanaka, DPJ Vice-President; Mr. Yoshiaki Takagi, Former Minister of Education, Culture, and Others; Mr. Ritsuo Hosokawa, Former Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare; Mr. Masayuki Naoshima, Former Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; Mr. Akihiro Ohata, Former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation
02:15 Everyone leaves
02:40 Courtesy Call from the Chairman of the Kavli Foundation, Mr. Fred Kavli, and the Director of the Kavli IPMU, Dr. Hitoshi Murayama; Mr. Hirano, Minister of Education, Culture, and others also attends
03:02 Three DPJ/Government Executive Meeting
03:39 Mr. Maehara, chairperson of DPJ Policy Research Council
03:50 Mr. Maehara leaves
04:07 Mr. Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs
04:29 Mr. Gemba leaves
04:30 Mr. Furukawa, Minister of State for National Policy
05:00 Mr. Furukawa leaves
05:01 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:20 Mr. Tezuka leaves
06:01 Meeting with the President of the Republic of Peru, Mr. Ollanta Humala Tasso
06:39 Dinner party hosted by Prime Minister
07:47 See off President Humala
07:49 Residence

May 10, 2012 (THU)
AM
07:55 Breakfast with Mr. Tadashi Okamura, Chairman, Japan Chamber of Commerce, at a Japanese restaurant Suiren in the Capitol Hotel Tokyu.
09:04 Office
09:08 Mr. Hosono, Minister of State for the Nuclear Power Policy and Administration; Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Shunsuke Kondo, Chairman of Japan Atomic Energy Commission
09:29 Everyone leaves
09:30 Mr. Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman of Postal Privatization Advisory Council
09:48 Mr. Nishimuro leaves
09:49 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
10:33 Both leave
11:29 Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister
11:38 Mr. Okada leaves

PM
12:49 Parliament
01:02 The Lower House Plenary Session
04:12 Office
04:16 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Ishida, Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office; Mr. Shimizu, Councillor of Cabinet Office; Mr. Genzo Inouye, Director-General of Policy Management
04:41 Presentation of Kariyushi Shirts from the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture; Mr. Okada, Deputy Prime Minister, and Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary, also attend
04:48 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
05:01 Mr. Takashi Onishi, President of Science Council of Japan; Mr. Motohisa Furukawa, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy; Mr. Takashi Matsumoto, Administrative Vice Minister of Cabinet Office
05:05 Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry; and Mr. Ishida, Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office
05:24 Both leave
05:28 The Council on National Strategy and Policy
06:44 Courtesy Call from the Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw, Mr. Khin Aung Myint of Burma; Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, also attends
07:04 Dinner with DPJ members, including Mr. Maehara, Mr. Sengoku, and Mr. Fujii at a Chinese restaurant Akasaka Hanten in Akasaka, Tokyo.
09:09 Residence

May 11, 2012 (FRI)

AM
09:02 Office
09:11 Okinawa Policy Council
09:29 Ministerial Meeting
09:56 Issue appointment of Mr. Hiroshi Mizohata to Cabinet Office Adviser; Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary, attends
09:59 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM; and Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
11:15 Both leave
11:18 Mr. Tadahiro Matsushita, Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office
11:29 Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary, joins
11:36 Both leaves
11:39 Mr. Toshio Ogawa, Minister of Justice
11:50 Mr. Ogawa leaves
11:51 Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs

PM
12:46 Parliament
01:00 Lower House Plenary Session
04:05 Office
04:15 Mr. Tezuka, Special Advisor to PM
05:00 Mr. Tezuka leaves
05:17 Press interview
05:52 Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM
06:55 Dinner with Mr. Yoshio Hachiro, DPJ Lower House Chairman of Comprehensive Reform of Social Security and Taxation System Council: at Bar Giiya in Akasaka, Tokyo
07:56 Mr. Jojima, DPJ Parliamentary Affairs Council Chair, joins
08:12 Mr. Hachiro leaves
09:01 Mr. Jojima leaves
09:11 Residence
10:10 Conference call with President Putin of Russia

May 12, 2012 (SAT)

AM
Residence

PM
12:32 Mr. So Yamaguchi, Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; Mr. Bessho, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of political affairs; Mr. Sugiyama, Director-General of Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Mr. Kinoshita, Director-General of the International Bureau, Ministry of Finance
12:53 Everyone leaves
01:02 Meeting of Ruling Party leaders with Mr. Jimi, Head of the People’s New Party (Kokumin Shinto; Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Shimoji, Secretary-General of the People’s New Party, also attend
01:21 Meeting adjourned
01:22 Mr. Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary
01:32 Mr. Fujimura leaves
01:34 Mr. Nagahama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM; and Mr. Nishimiya, Foreign Ministry councilor in charge of economics
02:01 Mr. Nishimiya leaves
02:29 Mr. Nagahama and Mr. Nagashima leaves
02:30 Interview with the Wall Street Journal
02:52 Interview ends
02:55 Mr. Kitamura, Head of Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; and Mr. Mukuki, Director of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center
03:03 Mr. Mukuki leaves
03:19 Mr. Kitamura leaves
03:31 Press interview
03:55 Haneda airport
04:20 Leave the airport for Beijing for the Japan -China-ROK Summit

May 13, 2012 (SUN, Local time in Beijing)

AM

The Japan-China-ROK Summit at the Great Hall of the People
Press conference
Made remarks at the Japan-China-ROK Business Summit

PM
Meeting with President Lee Myung-bak of ROK at Chang Fu Gong Center Hotel
Meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao of China at the Great Hall of the People
Press interview at Chung Fu Gong
The opening ceremony of CAMPUS Asia
Dinner party hosted by Premier Wen Jiabao
Stay in Chung Fu Gong Center Hotel

May 14, 2012 (MON, local time in Beijing)

AM
The Japan-China-ROK Summit Day 2 at the Great Hall of the People


PM
Noon Leave Beijing for Haneda
04:02 Arrive at Haneda Airport
04:44 Imperial Palace, report of return
05:00 Residence
05:50 Farewell ceremony of Late Tadayoshi Kusano, former President of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation
06:48 Residence

May 15, 2012 (TUE)

AM
09:13 Office
09:32 Ministerial meeting
09:42 Office
10:30 Haneda Airport


PM
1:22 Arrive at ASDF Naha Base, Okinawa
01:29 Visit Ground, Maritime, and Air Self Defense Force, Mr. Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; Mr. Taketoshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Mr. Nagashima, Special Advisor to PM, also attend
03:31 Laguna Garden Hotel, Ginowan City, Okinawa, welcomed by Governor Nakaima of Okinawa.
03:02 Receive the Plan for the Promotion and Development of Okinawa from the Governor Nakaima
03:17 Okinawa Convention Center,
03:21 Meeting with Governor Nakaima
04:00 Okinawa Reversion 40th Anniversary Ceremony
4:13 Press Interview
05:26 Commemorative reception
07:00 ASDF Naha Base
07:18 Leave the base
09:30 Arrive at Haneda Airport
10:01 Residence

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a topic of discourse in Washington. This week alone there were two public programs on the subject. The US government has taken an interest in the issue through the US State Department and the US Peace Institute.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: RISK TO AMERICAN BUSINESS. 6/7, 11:00am-Noon, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Andrew Markley, chairman and professor in the Department of Business at Grove City College; and James Kelly III, director of international affairs at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

UNCOMMON ALLIANCES: REAL PARTNERSHIPS - REAL EXPERIENCES - REAL IMPACTS, ABOUT PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. 6/4, 8:00am-5:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsors: US State Department and Institute for Corporate Responsibility at George Washington University's (GWU) School of Business. Keynote Speakers: State Department Special Representative for Global Partnerships Kris Balderston; White House Office of Public Engagement Director Jon Carson; Conor French, president and COO of INDEGO Africa.

At George Washington University in Washington, DC, professors are researching and analyzing the elements of CSR. 

• Institute for Corporate Responsibility, George Washington University School of Busines
• Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University, Elliott School for International Affairs hosted in September 2011 conference on Getting Rights Right: How Companies are Implementing the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

They are responding to increasing public pressure for responsible corporate governance and efforts by the UN and other international organizations to ensure that global corporations have cal responsibilities.

• UN Global Compact
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Business & Human Rights 
• Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (UN)  
• ISO 26000 Social Responsibility 
• Caux Round Table
• Keidanren Charter of Corporate Social Responsibility 

Last month, the METI-associated Institute for International Studies and Training (IIST) in Japan published a think piece on CSR by Tsugio Ide, Professor, Graduate School of Business, Nihon University in its IIST World Forum (5/31/12). They have kindly given us permission to reprint it here.

Corporate Social Responsibility in a 

Post-Industrial Capitalist Society

The global economic crisis triggered by the US subprime mortgage problem is in the process of tentative reversal thanks to cooperation among the international community, but a currency crisis has emerged in Europe along the way, with the preservation of the prevailing currency and financial systems and an economic philosophy prioritizing profit and growth giving rise to new causes of uncertainty in terms of the sustainable development of the global economy. The socioeconomic problems being experienced in Japan and abroad today call for a paradigm shift in the market economy system that regulated the 20th century and the socioeconomic framework which Japan has developed after the war.

Innovation in the emergence of modern capitalism

Here I want to look back on the significance of the market economy, which brought about the modern age, as well as the innovative nature of this.

(1) The emergence of the bourgeoisie in modern Europe caused Adam Smith to claim that self-interest was giving rise to new morals such as industriousness, frugality and prudence, so that self-interest could consequently be linked to public interest. Max Weber saw the ideological elements and the ethical climate which promoted the advance of capitalism from the inside as being the Protestant Ethic, the Spirit of Capitalism and a behaviour system that integrated labor, thrift, fidelity and justice.

(2) In Japan too, Baigan Ishida, who lived in the modern Edo period under feudal rule, argued that a merchant’s profit was the same as a samurai’s reward, and that when one knew the Way of the merchant, one would abandon personal desire and practise frugality out of a sense of integrity. His City and Country Dialogues therefore found social significance in the economic behaviour of merchants. The man devoted to the development of Japan’s economy and industry in the Meiji period, Eichi Shibusawa, also believed that the Analects of Confucius were a practical lesson for all humanity, and consequently advocated harmony between good ethics and business (The Analects and the Abacus).

(3) These examples suggest that a harmony was perceived between economic activities and ethics in both the East and West—an accord between personal benefit and social benefit. This management philosophy changed nature in the course of the actual operation of capital and the capitalist society movement, but the core of market economy is a social system that requires people to be moral and economy and ethics to be kept together. Without this core, it seems unlikely that a globalized society characterized by deepening interdependence would find universal support.

(4) Turning the argument around, the companies/corporate bodies which are the main agents in economic activities today manifest a person/thing duality (University of Tokyo Professor Emeritus Katsuhito Iwai). In other words, when a company (a legal thing) is recognized as a corporate entity (a legal person), it is expected to have the same thoughtfulness and ethics as a person. Natsume Soseki noted in his work Watashi no Kojin-shugi (My Individualism) that the elite who have social influence must work to cultivate their own individuality, respect the individuality of others, use their power and observe the concomitant obligations, and shoulder the responsibilities accompanying the use of their financial power. It could be argued that these same responsibilities need to be viewed as a precondition for corporations (legal persons) as public instruments, as well as for the market economy system.

Standards of behavior required in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR)

The process of the socialist socioeconomy ideology crumbling and falling, China shifting to a market economy system and the Cold War drawing to a close caused neoliberalism and market fundamentalism to thrive. At the same time, however, a pervasive emphasis on profit and efficiency and a succession of corporate scandals gave rise to a new drive at home and abroad for corporate social responsibility. In other words:

(1) The call for companies not just to observe minimum compliance with laws and regulations but also to take on social responsibility in their relations with various stakeholders beyond their customers, employees and stockholders became more marked.
(2) CSR is becoming a key factor in corporate evaluations and performance as a result of trends such as the advance of a digital society, the appearance of global environmental problems, the emergence of global trading, social injustice and increasing interest in corporate governance. Companies are the subject of growing expectations on the part of customers, employees and other constituent actors, as well as investors and lenders, suppliers, rivals, local communities, NPOs and various other stakeholder, and CSR awareness and initiatives are influencing the overall social assessment of organizations, organizational cohesion among employees and constituent actors, the ability to attract customers, and investors and financers, government and the mass media.

This climate has generated a marked drive in corporate groups as well as the United Nations and other public institutions beyond the bounds of sovereign states to set CSR behavior standards and encourage efforts in this regard. This new reality—a market economy value shift—can be seen in the following two cases in Japan and offshore as examples.

Nippon Keidanren Charter of Corporate Behavior

Keidanren responded to the business scandals arising out of the bubble economy and its over-emphasis on profit by drawing up 10 principles for a Charter of Corporate Behavior subtitled “For Gaining Public Trust and Rapport” as well as a set of concrete implementation guidelines (first published in 1991, and subsequently revised several times). If this charter becomes an established compass for Japanese corporate management, the mood of stagnancy currently enveloping the Japanese socio-economy should open out into a much broader prospect for the future. The kind of corporate scandals experienced by Daio Paper, Olympus and capital management company AIJ Investment Advisors would disappear, while communicating those principles offshore would also obtain international support. I fervently hope that by taking as a basic strategy this Corporate Charter which it has devised itself, Keidanren will lead the way into a paradigm shift.

Caux Round Table Principles for Business

At the Caux Round Table in 1994, Japanese, US and European businesspeople proposed that the 21st century market economy should pursue ethical capitalism based on their belief that the world business community should play an important role in improving economic and social conditions. The Principles for Business responded to a sense of crisis over the way in which neoliberalism and Chicago School market fundamentalism (business management that prioritizes market share, stockholders and the pursuit of profit) have flourished, making a strong appeal for the need to counterbalance market economy with CSR beyond the constraining force of law and the market. The seven principles, which are rooted in the two basic ethical ideals of kyosei (living and working together for the common good) and human dignity, have been a highly significant motivating factor behind multilateral debate, including the UN Global Compact, the EU Commission CSR Communication, and the ISO26000 guiding standard on the social responsibility of

Trends in academia

Professor Michael Porter from the Harvard Business School has described corporate social responsibility as solving social problems through business (integrating social problems and business activities, realizing shared value), while fellow professor Lynn Sharp Paine has characterized the new reality in which corporate ethics has begun to have a major place in corporate activities as a ‘value shift’. In his book The Most Important Companies in Japan, Professor Koji Sakamoto from Hosei University posits the order of priority for CSR as (1) looking after employees and their families; (2) looking after suppliers and subcontractors; (3) making customers happy; (4) making local communities happy; and (5) making naturally-emerging shareholders happy. Providing actual examples of small and medium enterprises practising this philosophy, his work has attracted much sympathy.

Need for an historical consciousness in forming a new paradigm

In our modern society, characterized by a belief in science and technology as the ultimate panacea, mass production and mass consumption, the need for an historical consciousness is becoming even more important in terms of understanding and recognizing the relativity of human beings, our interdependence, and the whole as well as the parts. Japanese education from the Meiji era through to the present day has focused on training technocrats to contribute to modernization, industry-building and post-war reconstruction, resulting in historical consciousness being forgotten. In academia, history, philosophy and other such subjects have been banished to the corners of literature departments, with an overall trend toward dismissing the liberal arts. For example, in law education, the philosophy of law, the sociology of law and the history of judicial systems—all of which foster an historical consciousness—are not core subjects. Economics began with an historical consciousness, but modern economics, which reduces people to ‘homo economicus’ (Amartya Sen  called them ‘rational fools’), has descended into a discipline totally lacking in historical consciousness. On top of this, the fragmentation of disciplines has brought about an emphasis on the need for interdisciplinary concepts and methods, but most of this has in fact just been fanfare, creating a partial equilibrium that lacks an overall equilibrium perspective.

The influence of such school and university education, as well as increasing disciplinary specialization, are also reflected in actual society, symbolized by the way in which Japanese firms and organizations boast outstanding operational efficiency but are poor at organizational management and strategic thinking beyond this. These factors are impeding a major paradigm shift, and will need to be overcome to truly address market economy systems in the 21st century as well as the social responsibility of the companies constituting these.