July 2018, Langley Equire
Showing posts with label Abe Akie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abe Akie. Show all posts
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Abe's ideals frighten Japanese voters
East Asia Forum, 12 March 2017
By Alexis Dudden, Professor of Japanese History at the University of Connecticut and APP member.
‘Growing scandal’ is the only way to describe the unfolding story about Moritomo Gakuen, a private education company in Osaka responsible for the controversial early education programs and schools currently under scrutiny in the Japanese parliament and press because of its close connection to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Videos from Moritomo Gakuen schools of kindergarteners in sailor suits singing martial songs at a Shinto shrine under the approving gaze of its head priest and first graders finishing a running race by raising their hands in a Heil Hitler pose have shocked many observers. But more startling is the link of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie to the school.
Mrs Abe had publicly expressed support for Moritomo Gakuen’s Mizuho-no-kuni Elementary School, stating that it is ‘wonderful’, ‘remarkable’ and ‘fosters children to have pride as Japanese and a strong inner self’. Until Prime Minister Abe announced on 24 February that she’d resigned, Mrs Abe was also the school’s honorary principal.
The Japanese Diet is now debating the involvement of senior ruling party members — including Abe — in the deeply discounted sale of the land to the school due to buried waste on the site, and also whether Mrs Abe acted in a public or private capacity in her support of the school. Prime Minister Abe has deflected the issue with bombast, declaring: ‘I find it very unpleasant to have [my wife] discussed as a common criminal…If wrongdoing is discovered, I will resign immediately’.
While Mizuho-no-kuni Elementary School is still under construction, Moritomo Gakuen’s related enterprises offer clues to the ‘wonderful’ and ‘remarkable’ ways that its teachers indoctrinate small children. Viral videos first surfaced some years ago of kids screaming, ‘Adults should protect the Senkaku Islands and Takeshima and the Northern Territories! Chinese and South Korean people who treat Japan as a bad [country] should amend their minds’. They feature Mrs Abe wiping away tears of appreciation during a school visit.
So what is it about the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten that is so telling?
The images of children raising Heil Abe salutes jar a majority of Japanese and people around the world because they signify everything that was supposed to be different about Japan from 1945 to the present. Worse, these are children doing what adults tell them to do.
Whatever word best captures post-World War II Japan — constitutional pacifism or secularism — Japanese society committed to negating the cult of emperor worship that drove the nation to catastrophic war, the end of the empire and a devastated homeland. The current Emperor Akihito eschews displays of personal veneration that invoke a time when the Japanese viewed his ancestors as divine. But in 1997, the political group called Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) emerged with the central aim of changing all this through policy and education.
Nippon Kaigi’s grip on national matters today extends beyond its 40,000 members. Sixteen of twenty current cabinet ministers are prominent participants or directors of the group’s various divisions. Its ranks comprise former prime ministers and incumbent Prime Minister Abe, leading Diet members and key regional politicians, bureaucrats, writers, media moguls and educators — including the owner of the kindergarten at the centre of this scandal.
One member, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi, appeared in the US State Department’s 2016 Human Rights Report as a central figure in the strangling of press freedoms in Japan. Takaichi has been key to the Nippon Kaigi’s Parliamentarian League section concerning ‘History Issues, Education and Family Issues’ since 2007. Abe is in charge of ‘Defense, Diplomacy and Territory’ matters, while Yoshitada Konoike, the Upper House parliamentarian whom the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten owner apparently tried to bribe, heads the subcommittee on ‘Constitution, Imperial Household and Yasukuni Issues’.
Nippon Kaigi’s primary goal is to restore the emperor as head of state and rear future citizens to worship him — no female rulers need apply — through late 19th and early 20th century Shinto practices at special schools.
Added to this mix, on 5 March, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party changed its rules to allow the head of its party a third term. If the scandal fails to break Prime Minister Abe’s stride he could run Japan until September 2021 and help to make Nippon Kaigi’s dreams come true.
Hopefully, open public debate will enable investigation of those involved in the scandal. Then, it should train its powerful — and democratic — lens on how the Moritomo Gakuen incident brings into relief the meaning of Japan moving forward.
For me, a ‘wonderful’ Japanese nursery school resides in one of Niigata’s less privileged areas — on a dilapidated shrine ground nonetheless — where my four-year-old found warmth and confidence, learned hiragana, and sang ’Totoro’ to his heart’s content regardless of what any of his teachers may have privately thought about who he was or why we were living in Japan. This, too, has every chance of being Japan’s future.
By Alexis Dudden, Professor of Japanese History at the University of Connecticut and APP member.
‘Growing scandal’ is the only way to describe the unfolding story about Moritomo Gakuen, a private education company in Osaka responsible for the controversial early education programs and schools currently under scrutiny in the Japanese parliament and press because of its close connection to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Videos from Moritomo Gakuen schools of kindergarteners in sailor suits singing martial songs at a Shinto shrine under the approving gaze of its head priest and first graders finishing a running race by raising their hands in a Heil Hitler pose have shocked many observers. But more startling is the link of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie to the school.
Mrs Abe had publicly expressed support for Moritomo Gakuen’s Mizuho-no-kuni Elementary School, stating that it is ‘wonderful’, ‘remarkable’ and ‘fosters children to have pride as Japanese and a strong inner self’. Until Prime Minister Abe announced on 24 February that she’d resigned, Mrs Abe was also the school’s honorary principal.
The Japanese Diet is now debating the involvement of senior ruling party members — including Abe — in the deeply discounted sale of the land to the school due to buried waste on the site, and also whether Mrs Abe acted in a public or private capacity in her support of the school. Prime Minister Abe has deflected the issue with bombast, declaring: ‘I find it very unpleasant to have [my wife] discussed as a common criminal…If wrongdoing is discovered, I will resign immediately’.
While Mizuho-no-kuni Elementary School is still under construction, Moritomo Gakuen’s related enterprises offer clues to the ‘wonderful’ and ‘remarkable’ ways that its teachers indoctrinate small children. Viral videos first surfaced some years ago of kids screaming, ‘Adults should protect the Senkaku Islands and Takeshima and the Northern Territories! Chinese and South Korean people who treat Japan as a bad [country] should amend their minds’. They feature Mrs Abe wiping away tears of appreciation during a school visit.
So what is it about the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten that is so telling?
The images of children raising Heil Abe salutes jar a majority of Japanese and people around the world because they signify everything that was supposed to be different about Japan from 1945 to the present. Worse, these are children doing what adults tell them to do.
Whatever word best captures post-World War II Japan — constitutional pacifism or secularism — Japanese society committed to negating the cult of emperor worship that drove the nation to catastrophic war, the end of the empire and a devastated homeland. The current Emperor Akihito eschews displays of personal veneration that invoke a time when the Japanese viewed his ancestors as divine. But in 1997, the political group called Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) emerged with the central aim of changing all this through policy and education.
Nippon Kaigi’s grip on national matters today extends beyond its 40,000 members. Sixteen of twenty current cabinet ministers are prominent participants or directors of the group’s various divisions. Its ranks comprise former prime ministers and incumbent Prime Minister Abe, leading Diet members and key regional politicians, bureaucrats, writers, media moguls and educators — including the owner of the kindergarten at the centre of this scandal.
One member, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi, appeared in the US State Department’s 2016 Human Rights Report as a central figure in the strangling of press freedoms in Japan. Takaichi has been key to the Nippon Kaigi’s Parliamentarian League section concerning ‘History Issues, Education and Family Issues’ since 2007. Abe is in charge of ‘Defense, Diplomacy and Territory’ matters, while Yoshitada Konoike, the Upper House parliamentarian whom the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten owner apparently tried to bribe, heads the subcommittee on ‘Constitution, Imperial Household and Yasukuni Issues’.
Nippon Kaigi’s primary goal is to restore the emperor as head of state and rear future citizens to worship him — no female rulers need apply — through late 19th and early 20th century Shinto practices at special schools.
Added to this mix, on 5 March, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party changed its rules to allow the head of its party a third term. If the scandal fails to break Prime Minister Abe’s stride he could run Japan until September 2021 and help to make Nippon Kaigi’s dreams come true.
Hopefully, open public debate will enable investigation of those involved in the scandal. Then, it should train its powerful — and democratic — lens on how the Moritomo Gakuen incident brings into relief the meaning of Japan moving forward.
For me, a ‘wonderful’ Japanese nursery school resides in one of Niigata’s less privileged areas — on a dilapidated shrine ground nonetheless — where my four-year-old found warmth and confidence, learned hiragana, and sang ’Totoro’ to his heart’s content regardless of what any of his teachers may have privately thought about who he was or why we were living in Japan. This, too, has every chance of being Japan’s future.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Abe’s revisionism nets own goals at home and away
What links Osaka, Seoul, Busan and Glendale, California? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s championing of revisionist history
BY Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan and APP member
Japan Times, March 11, 2017
Since becoming a member of the Diet in 1993, Abe has been pushing for a more positive spin on Japan’s 1931-45 wartime record. To that end, he ushered through a law promoting patriotic education in 2007. More recently, his education ministry has issued guidelines for textbook publishers and educators that mandate instruction about various controversies, such as the “comfort women” system of sexual servitude, that conforms to the government’s stance.
In mid-February, in the early days of the Moritomo Gakuen scandal brewing in Osaka, Abe declared that he shared the ideological views of the school’s founder. This stalwart defense of Yasunori Kagoike has since crumbled as Abe has scrambled to distance himself from what has become the biggest crisis of his premiership.
But Abe’s defiant declaration is revealing because he was responding to questions about whether the educational philosophy at the school was appropriate. Parents say students were taught to use hate speech in referring to ethnic Chinese and Koreans. Students were also tasked with memorizing the 1890 Imperial Rescript of Education, which enjoined all Japanese subjects to pledge blind devotion to the Emperor in the pre-1945 era. U.S. Occupation (1945-52) authorities banned teaching students this rescript because it was considered to be a key element in the militaristic brainwashing that helped sustain Japanese imperialism between 1895 and 1945.
Abe didn’t repudiate the jingoism, racism and Emperor worship — all redolent of wartime Japan — inculcated among the children studying at Moritomo Gakuen. In fact, the planned elementary school at the heart of the current land scandal was to be named after Abe, until he requested that his name not be used for that purpose or for fundraising.
But his wife, Akie Abe, became the honorary principal of the school and praised its educational philosophy, saying that Japan needs more of the moral education on offer. In 2014, in a videotaped exchange, she asked the students if they knew whom her husband was and, prodded by Kagoike, they chimed up that he was the man protecting Japan from China.
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada also had a posting on the school website thanking the founder for sending his students to cheer on and wave flags for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. Students were also encouraged to congratulate Abe on the passage of his controversial security legislation in 2015.
These are kindergarten children. Shamelessly brainwashing them in support of Abe’s security agenda is reprehensible and a worrying sign that Japan’s reactionaries are so desperate they will stoop to any measure to manipulate public opinion and fabricate support.
But it gets worse. The planned elementary school is being built on contaminated land, endangering the health of the young patriots. This lack of concern about the welfare of the children should disqualify the school from operating. The government gave the school funds to clean up the site, but one of the workers involved revealed he dug up some of the contaminated soil and was then told to rebury it, covering it with just a thin layer of clean topsoil.
Hmm. So, it would appear that the school went through the motions of a cleanup and pocketed the money the government gave them for this task, a sum that happens to be about the same amount as the school ended up paying the government to acquire the land. Thus the school seems to have funded this purchase with money from state coffers while getting an exorbitant discount into the bargain. (A similar plot of land nearby sold for almost 10 times what the school paid.)
In the Diet, this dubious land deal has raised many questions about Abe and his wife’s involvement and political interference in selling the land for a song. Conveniently, the government has destroyed documents related to the sweetheart deal. Abe opposes an independent probe of Liberal Democratic Party Diet members’ possible involvement, despite the LDP’s Yoshitada Konoike alleging that the school’s founder tried to bribe him. Soon thereafter the land deal went through at a lavish markdown, raising suspicions that some other politician was more biddable. The LDP’s opposition to summoning Kagoike to testify in the Diet makes it look like it has something to hide and is worried that he might spill the beans about unsavory dealings that could prove awkward.
Abe is the Teflon prime minister, having emerged from past scandals unscathed, but this time Abe’s support rate appears to have imploded, with one Nikkei poll recording a drop in backing for his Cabinet from 63 percent to 36 percent as anger mounts. Given that Abe has promised to resign if any evidence emerges that links him or his wife to the land deal, he must be certain there is no smoking gun. Yet you have to wonder about the coincidence of his reported visit to Osaka on the day of a meeting between Moritomo representatives and finance ministry officials, just as the Diet was in the middle of contentious deliberations about his security legislation, when his presence was crucial. One assumes he is too savvy to leave any trace, but plausible deniability or not, Abe has become the Diet’s pinata, just as he was in 2007 on the way to the ignominious end of his first turn as PM.
In China and South Korea, the fact that a school linked with Abe is teaching revisionist history and racial slurs targeting their people reinforces negative perceptions about him. In terms of public diplomacy, Team Abe has scored yet another own goal. Armed with a massively increased budget, Japan’s public diplomacy should be wowing the world, but the nation keeps getting mired in fights over its shared history with its neighbors.
The withdrawal of Japan’s ambassador to South Korea over the presence of a comfort woman statue in Busan, and a failure to remove a similar statue in Seoul, is silly. This diplomatic pout over statues is overwrought and counterproductive. Critics of Japan over the comfort women are setting the agenda, running circles around diplomats who seem willing to throw fuel on the fires of acrimony.
By overreacting, the government is ceding the initiative and ensuring that the media keeps shining a light on Japan’s damning past. And now it has taken the statue wars to Glendale, California, where it has filed an official opinion in support of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a lawsuit protesting the installation of a comfort woman statue in that city. This seems to be a violation of the 2015 deal with Seoul in which the two governments agreed not to give each other a hard time internationally over the comfort women issue.
Both at home and overseas, Japan’s revisionists are betraying the nation they ostensibly revere
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule May 25-31, 2015
AM
08:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:43 Depart from private residence
08:56 Arrive at office
09:30 The second meeting of the Cyber Security Strategy Headquarters
09:35 Meeting ends
09:41 Receive a proposal from the Science and Technology Parliamentary Association
10:01 End reception
10:12 Meet with Secretary-General of Headquarters for Abduction Issue Ishikawa Shoichiro
10:27 End meeting with Mr. Ishikawa
10:29 Meet with Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen, Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, MOFA’s Director-General of International Legal Affairs Bureau Akiba Takeo, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuo
11:32 End meeting with Mr. Nakatani, Mr. Yachi, Mr. Akiba, and Mr. Kuroe
12:12 Depart from office
12:19 Arrive at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery. Attend the Ceremony of Reverence, lay a wreath
12:45 Depart from Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery
12:54 Arrive at office
01:36 Film video message for medical science-related activity
01:59 End filming
02:01 Meet with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Cabinet Office Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Habuka Shigeki, Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Tawa Hiroshi
02:34 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa
02:35 Meet with Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Masuda Hiroya
03:12 End meeting with Mr. Masuda
03:20 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa
04:02 End meeting with Mr. Nagamine
04:03 Meet with Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s Deputy Vice-Minister Fukuda Junichi and MOF’s Director-General of Tax Bureau Sato Shinichi
04:29 End meeting with Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Sato
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| Suga and Yamaguchi think shirt itches |
04:45 Presentation ends
04:53 Depart from office
04:54 Arrive at Diet
04:55 Enter LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
04:56 Endorse the Governor candidate for Gunma Prefecture. Photograph Session
04:58 Leave LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
04:59 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:01 LDP Officers Meeting
05:20 Meeting ends
05:38 Speak with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
05:42 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:43 Depart from Diet
05:45 Arrive at office
06:14 Reception for Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. Commemoration Photograph Session.
06:15 Ceremony by the guard of honor
06:21 Ceremony ends
06:23 Japan-Malaysia Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Najib Razak
07:19 Summit meeting ends
07:22 Joint Press Announcement
07:36 Joint Press Announcement ends
07:37 Depart from office
07:38 Arrive at the official residence. Banquet hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and wife Akie
08:56 Send off Prime Minister Najib Razak and his spouse Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor
08:58 Send-off ends
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:27 Depart from office
07:32 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:13 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:24 Cabinet meeting
08:40 Cabinet meeting ends
08:41 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
09:53 End meeting with Mr. Kato
09:54 Depart from office
09:56 Arrive at Diet
09:57 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 43
10:00 Meeting of the Committee on Health, Labour, and Welfare of the Upper House
PM
12:03 Meeting adjourns. Leave Upper House Committee Room No. 43
12:04 Depart from Diet
12:06 Arrive at office
12:36 Depart from office
12:38 Arrive at Diet
12:40 Enter LDP President’s Office
12:41 Meet with Chief Representative of Japan Innovation Party Matsuno Yorihisa
12:49 End meeting with Mr. Matsuno
12:50 Leave LDP President’s Office
12:52 Enter Lower House Speaker’s Reception Room
12:55 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen
12:59 End meeting with Mr. Aso and Mr. Nakatani
01:00 Leave Lower House Speaker’s Reception Room, enter Lower House Chamber
01:02 Plenary session of the Lower House
04:01 Plenary session adjourns, leave Lower House Chamber
04:02 Depart from Diet
04:04 Arrive at office
04:05 Meet with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Miyazawa Yoichi and State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takagi Yosuke
04:23 End meeting with Mr. Miyazawa and Mr. Takagi
04:48 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, and Director of Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Shimohira Koji
04:56 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Shimohira leave
05:08 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:17 Meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
06:22 Meeting ends
06:28 Ceremony to Present the Commendations for Contributors to Consumer Support for FY2015
06:40 Ceremony ends
06:56 Receive a courtesy call from a delegation led by Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee of the United States Michael D. Rogers
07:13 Courtesy call ends
07:15 Depart from office
07:32 Arrive at Italian restaurant Ristorante ASO. Dinner meeting with Chairman of the ANA Holdings Inc.’s Board Ito Shinichiro and President of ANA Holdings Inc. Katanozaka Shinya
09:01 Depart from the restaurant.
09:09 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:14 Depart from private residence
07:27 Arrive at office
08:54 Depart from office
08:56 Arrive at Diet
08:58 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community
PM
12:01 Meeting adjourns
12:02 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
12:04 Depart from Diet
12:05 Arrive at office
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens
05:02 Meeting adjourns
05:03 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
05:05 Depart from Diet
05:07 Arrive at office
05:13 Meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues
05:27 Meeting ends
05:28 Speak with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
05:30 Finish speaking with Mr. Ohta
05:43 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Nishikawa Koya, and others
06:17 End meeting with Mr. Nikai, Mr. Nishikawa, and others
06:22 Depart from office
06:31 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Attend a party hosted by LDP faction Santo in banquet hall Aoi within the hotel, deliver an address.
06:41 Depart from the hotel
06:49 Arrive at Japanese restaurant Kurosawa in Nagata-Cho, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with President of Nippon Television Holdings, Inc. Okubo Yoshio, journalist Goto Kenji, and others
09:37 Depart from the restaurant
09:53 Arrive at private residence
Thursday, May 28, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:12 Depart from private residence
07:24 Arrive at office
07:26 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
08:53 End meeting with Mr. Kato
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:03 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community
PM
12:02 Meeting adjourns
12:03 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
12:05 Depart from Diet
12:06 Arrive at office
12:47 Meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens
05:04 Meeting adjourns
05:05 Leave Lower House Committee Room No. 1
05:07 Depart from Diet
05:08 Arrive at office
05:19 National Security Council meeting
05:54 Meeting ends
06:03 Depart from office
06:11 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-Cho, Tokyo. Attend a party hosted by LDP Lower House member Hosoda Hiroyuki in banquet hall Ho-Oh-No-Ma, deliver address
06:22 Depart from office
06:40 Arrive at Japanese restaurant Shinbashi Matsuyama in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige and others
07:21 Depart from the restaurant
07:27 Arrive at steakhouse Kawamura in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, LDP Lower House member Kawamura Takeo, and others
09:28 Depart from the steakhouse
09:48 Arrive at private residence
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule May 4-10, 2015
AM
12:00 At holiday home (no visitors)
07:08 Depart from holiday home in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture
07:12 Arrive at golf course Fujizakura Country Club in Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture. Golf with relatives, friends, and secretary
03:26 Depart from golf course
03:29 Arrive at holiday home
05:30 Barbecue with wife Akie, mother Kishi Yoko, Cabinet Advisor Honda Etsuro, and secretaries
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
AM
12:00 At holiday home (no visitors)
07:50 Depart from holiday home in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture
07:55 Arrive at Narusawa Golf Club in Narusawa Village. Golf with wife Akie, President of Rickie Business Solution Shibuya Koichi, and secretaries
PM
04:07 Depart from Narusawa Golf Club
04:13 Arrive at holiday home
06:20 Depart from holiday home
06:30 Arrive at yakiniku restaurant Tetsuan in Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture. Dinner with wife Akie and relatives
08:20 Depart from restaurant
08:28 Arrive at holiday home
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
AM
12:00 At holiday home (no visitors)
07:24 Depart from holiday home in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture
07:47 Arrive at Fuji Golf Course in Yamanakako Village, Yamanashi Prefecture. Golf with Honorary Chairman of Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) Mitarai Fujio, Chairman of Keidanren Sakakibara Sadayuki, and Honorary Executive Consultant of JX Holdings Watari Fumiaki
PM
02:41 Depart from golf course
04:12 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
Thursday, May 7, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:30 Depart from private residence
09:45 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Register return to Japan
09:54 Depart from Imperial Palace
10:04 Arrive at office
10:23 Speak with Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Operational Policy Miyama Nobuaki, Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi, and Commander of Escort Flotilla 4, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Ito Hiroshi
10:37 Finish speaking with Mr. Miyama, Mr. Kawano, and Commander Ito
10:43 Meet with Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Yamaguchi Shunichi and President of Science Council of Japan Onishi Takashi
11:02 End meeting with Mr. Yamaguchi and Mr. Onishi
11:03 Speak with Chairman of INPEX Corporation Kuroda Naoki
11:11 Finish speaking with Mr. Kuroda
11:21 Speak with Commissioner General of the National Police Agency Kanetaka Masahito
11:31 Finish speaking with Mr. Kanetaka
11:33 Speak with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
11:46 Finish speaking with Mr. Kitamura
PM
12:02 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
12:46 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
01:45 Meet with LDP Upper House member Moriya Hiroshi and others
02:02 End meeting with Mr. Moriya and others
02:03 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro and MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
02:52 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Kuroe
02:53 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
03:31 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
03:32 Meet with Minister for Reconstruction Takeshita Wataru and Reconstruction Agency’s Director-General for Reconstruction Policy Okamoto Masakatsu
03:53 End meeting with Mr. Takeshita and Mr. Okamoto
04:03 Receive a courtesy call from former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare and his wife. Wife Akie also attends
04:34 Coutesy call ends
04:46 Meet with new Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan Koike Hiroshi and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan Kanetsuki Seishi
05:05 End meeting with Mr. Koike and Mr. Kanetsuki
05:08 Meet with Mr. Kitamura
05:32 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
05:37 Meet with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
06:00 End meeting with Ms. Takaichi
06:01 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio and MOFA’s Director-General of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau Takase Yasushi
06:49 Depart from office
06:50 Arrive at official residence
Friday, May 8, 2015
AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:06 Depart from official residence
08:07 Arrive at office
08:11 Headquarters for Promotion of Privatization of Postal Services meeting
08:17 Meeting ends
08:23 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:34 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:41 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:06 End meeting with Mr. Aso
09:07 Meet with Secretary-General of Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union Kawamura Takeo
09:33 End meeting with Mr. Kawamura
09:35 Speak with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
09:42 Finish speaking with Mr. Kimura
10:02 Depart from office
10:11 Arrive at Imperial Palace
10:30 Spring Presentation of Grand Cordon Ceremony
10:52 Depart from Imperial Palace
11:02 Arrive at office
11:21 Meet with Minister in charge of Abduction Issue Yamatani Eriko
11:47 End meeting with Ms. Yamatani
PM
01:11 Depart from office
01:18 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Spring Conferring of Order Ranks Ceremony
01:53 Depart from Imperial Palace
02:04 Arrive at office
03:15 Speak with President of Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Company Nakatomi Hirotaka
03:25 Finish speaking with Mr. Nakatomi
03:31 Receive a courtesy call from Democratic Leader of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D – CA)
04:19 Courtesy call ends
06:21 Depart from office
06:38 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
Saturday, May 9, 2015
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
PM
12:17 Depart from private residence
12:36 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Attend Pacific Vision 21 Tokyo Meeting at French restaurant Crown within hotel, deliver address
01:51 Depart from hotel
02:03 Arrive at hotel Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, Tokyo. Exercise at NAGOMI Spa and Fitness within hotel
03:44 Depart from hotel
04:07 Arrive at private residence
Sunday, May 10, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
10:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stay at private residence throughout morning
PM
Stay at private residence throughout afternoon and evening
Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones and Lu Pengqiao
07:47 Arrive at Fuji Golf Course in Yamanakako Village, Yamanashi Prefecture. Golf with Honorary Chairman of Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) Mitarai Fujio, Chairman of Keidanren Sakakibara Sadayuki, and Honorary Executive Consultant of JX Holdings Watari Fumiaki
PM
02:41 Depart from golf course
04:12 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
Thursday, May 7, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:30 Depart from private residence
09:45 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Register return to Japan
09:54 Depart from Imperial Palace
10:04 Arrive at office
10:23 Speak with Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Operational Policy Miyama Nobuaki, Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi, and Commander of Escort Flotilla 4, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Ito Hiroshi
10:37 Finish speaking with Mr. Miyama, Mr. Kawano, and Commander Ito
10:43 Meet with Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Yamaguchi Shunichi and President of Science Council of Japan Onishi Takashi
11:02 End meeting with Mr. Yamaguchi and Mr. Onishi
11:03 Speak with Chairman of INPEX Corporation Kuroda Naoki
11:11 Finish speaking with Mr. Kuroda
11:21 Speak with Commissioner General of the National Police Agency Kanetaka Masahito
11:31 Finish speaking with Mr. Kanetaka
11:33 Speak with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
11:46 Finish speaking with Mr. Kitamura
PM
12:02 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
12:46 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
01:45 Meet with LDP Upper House member Moriya Hiroshi and others
02:02 End meeting with Mr. Moriya and others
02:03 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro and MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
02:52 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Kuroe
02:53 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
03:31 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
03:32 Meet with Minister for Reconstruction Takeshita Wataru and Reconstruction Agency’s Director-General for Reconstruction Policy Okamoto Masakatsu
03:53 End meeting with Mr. Takeshita and Mr. Okamoto
04:03 Receive a courtesy call from former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare and his wife. Wife Akie also attends
04:34 Coutesy call ends
04:46 Meet with new Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan Koike Hiroshi and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan Kanetsuki Seishi
05:05 End meeting with Mr. Koike and Mr. Kanetsuki
05:08 Meet with Mr. Kitamura
05:32 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
05:37 Meet with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
06:00 End meeting with Ms. Takaichi
06:01 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio and MOFA’s Director-General of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau Takase Yasushi
06:49 Depart from office
06:50 Arrive at official residence
Friday, May 8, 2015
AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:06 Depart from official residence
08:07 Arrive at office
08:11 Headquarters for Promotion of Privatization of Postal Services meeting
08:17 Meeting ends
08:23 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:34 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:41 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:06 End meeting with Mr. Aso
09:07 Meet with Secretary-General of Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union Kawamura Takeo
09:33 End meeting with Mr. Kawamura
09:35 Speak with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
09:42 Finish speaking with Mr. Kimura
10:02 Depart from office
10:11 Arrive at Imperial Palace
10:30 Spring Presentation of Grand Cordon Ceremony
10:52 Depart from Imperial Palace
11:02 Arrive at office
11:21 Meet with Minister in charge of Abduction Issue Yamatani Eriko
11:47 End meeting with Ms. Yamatani
PM
01:11 Depart from office
01:18 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Spring Conferring of Order Ranks Ceremony
01:53 Depart from Imperial Palace
02:04 Arrive at office
03:15 Speak with President of Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Company Nakatomi Hirotaka
03:31 Receive a courtesy call from Democratic Leader of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D – CA)
04:19 Courtesy call ends
06:21 Depart from office
06:38 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
Saturday, May 9, 2015
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
PM
12:17 Depart from private residence
12:36 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Attend Pacific Vision 21 Tokyo Meeting at French restaurant Crown within hotel, deliver address
01:51 Depart from hotel
02:03 Arrive at hotel Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, Tokyo. Exercise at NAGOMI Spa and Fitness within hotel
03:44 Depart from hotel
04:07 Arrive at private residence
Sunday, May 10, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
10:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stay at private residence throughout morning
PM
Stay at private residence throughout afternoon and evening
Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones and Lu Pengqiao
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule August 17-23, 2015
AM
06:36 Depart from holiday home in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture
06:40 Arrive at golf course Fujizakura Country Club in Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Yamanashi Prefecture. Play golf with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu, Chairman of Nippon Foundation Sasakawa Yohei, and Chairman of Fuji Television Network, Inc. Hieda Hisashi
PM
02:45 Depart from golf course
02:49 Arrive at holiday home
06:00 Depart from holiday home
06:24 Arrive at Hotel Mt. Fuji in Yamanakako village, Yamanashi Prefecture. Dinner meeting with Chairman of Fuji Television Network, Inc. Hieda Hisashi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu, LDP Lower House member Kishi Nobuo and colleagues in banquet hall Menuet
08:55 Depart from hotel
09:18 Arrive at holiday home
 |
| Abe Akie at Yasukuni |
AM
08:00 At holiday home in in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
08:00 At holiday home in in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
Abe Akie , in Tokyo, visits Yasukuni Shrine. She wrote on her Facebook page that she “felt different” during her latest visit to the Shinto shrine because it came three days after she went to the Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots (知覧特攻平和会館 Chiran Tokkō-Heiwa-Kaikan) former site of the Chiran Imperial Army Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture, from which some kamikaze pilots left on suicide missions at the end of World War II.
PM
12:57 Meet with Village Mayor of Narusawa Kobayashi Masaru
01:17 End meeting with Mr. Kobayashi
01:28 Meet with American Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick
Archbishop emeritus of Washington, was named a CSIS counselor in March 2007. 02:14 End meeting with Mr. McCarrick
04:30 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru enters the villa
06:15 Barbeque with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Hasegawa Eiichi, and secretaries
08:18 Mr. Kitamura leaves
11:02 Barbeque ends. Everyone leaves
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
AM
08:00 At holiday home in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
PM
12:52 Depart from holiday home
01:02 Arrive at hot springs facility Fujiyama-Onsen in Fujiyoshida city, Yamanashi Prefecture. Take a bath
03:22 Depart from Fujiyama-Onsen
03:32 Arrive at holiday home
05:49 Depart from holiday home
05:59 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Ren in Fujiyoshida city. Dinner with his mother Abe Yoko and secretary
07:10 Depart from restaurant
07:20 Arrive at holiday home
11:59 At holiday home (no visitors)
Thursday, August 20, 2015
AM
08:00 At holiday home in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
PM
02:57 Depart from holiday home
04:30 Arrive at private residence in Tokyo
11:59 At private residence (no visitors)
Friday, August 21, 2015
12:57 Meet with Village Mayor of Narusawa Kobayashi Masaru
01:17 End meeting with Mr. Kobayashi
01:28 Meet with American Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick
Archbishop emeritus of Washington, was named a CSIS counselor in March 2007. 02:14 End meeting with Mr. McCarrick
04:30 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru enters the villa
06:15 Barbeque with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Hasegawa Eiichi, and secretaries
08:18 Mr. Kitamura leaves
11:02 Barbeque ends. Everyone leaves
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
AM
08:00 At holiday home in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
PM
12:52 Depart from holiday home
01:02 Arrive at hot springs facility Fujiyama-Onsen in Fujiyoshida city, Yamanashi Prefecture. Take a bath
03:22 Depart from Fujiyama-Onsen
03:32 Arrive at holiday home
05:49 Depart from holiday home
05:59 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Ren in Fujiyoshida city. Dinner with his mother Abe Yoko and secretary
07:10 Depart from restaurant
07:20 Arrive at holiday home
11:59 At holiday home (no visitors)
Thursday, August 20, 2015
AM
08:00 At holiday home in Narusawa village, Yamanashi Prefecture (no visitors)
Stay at holiday home throughout morning (no morning visitors)
PM
02:57 Depart from holiday home
04:30 Arrive at private residence in Tokyo
11:59 At private residence (no visitors)
Friday, August 21, 2015
AM
08:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:43 Depart from private residence
08:57 Arrive at office
09:03 Cabinet meeting
09:12 Meeting ends
09:13 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:18 End meeting with Mr. Aso
09:19 Meet with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa
09:36 End meeting with Mr. Shiozaki
10:06 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
11:16 End meeting with Mr. Seko
11:17 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, and MOFA’s Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Junichi
PM
12:03 End meeting with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Saiki, and Mr. Ihara
12:04 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko, Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Takamizawa Nobushige, and Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
12:11 End meeting with Mr. Nishimura, Mr. Takamizawa and Mr. Kitamura
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Arrive at Diet
12:58 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community opens
04:11 Meeting adjourns
04:12 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors
04:14 Depart from Diet
04:16 Arrive at office
04:30 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
04:39 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
04:40 Meet with United States Senator Mazie Hirono
05:02 End meeting with Ms. Hirono
05:30 National Security Council meeting
05:43 Meeting ends
06:18 Depart from office
06:20 Arrive at the Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Nagata-cho, Tokyo. Dinner with secretary in restaurant ORIGAMI in the hotel
07:36 Depart from hotel
08:01 Arrive at private residence
08:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:43 Depart from private residence
08:57 Arrive at office
09:03 Cabinet meeting
09:12 Meeting ends
09:13 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:18 End meeting with Mr. Aso
09:19 Meet with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa
09:36 End meeting with Mr. Shiozaki
10:06 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
11:16 End meeting with Mr. Seko
11:17 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, and MOFA’s Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Junichi
PM
12:03 End meeting with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Saiki, and Mr. Ihara
12:04 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko, Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Takamizawa Nobushige, and Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
12:11 End meeting with Mr. Nishimura, Mr. Takamizawa and Mr. Kitamura
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Arrive at Diet
12:58 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors
01:00 Meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community opens
04:11 Meeting adjourns
04:12 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors
04:14 Depart from Diet
04:16 Arrive at office
04:30 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
04:39 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
04:40 Meet with United States Senator Mazie Hirono
05:02 End meeting with Ms. Hirono
05:30 National Security Council meeting
05:43 Meeting ends
06:18 Depart from office
06:20 Arrive at the Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Nagata-cho, Tokyo. Dinner with secretary in restaurant ORIGAMI in the hotel
07:36 Depart from hotel
08:01 Arrive at private residence
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