Two separate pieces ran yesterday which in different ways ask ‘is Japan conservative’? Of course that is a sweeping generalization to make about an entire country, nevertheless, I would think that few would argue that Europe (especially western Europe) is generally more liberal than the United States.  Europe has socialized (er, socialised) medicine, and more government activism (liberals would call it minding social welfare and conservatives would describe it as “nanny state intervention.”).  Back to Japan…

Roger Cohen, an opinion columnist for the New York Times, posits that Asia including Japan lean Republican (conservative) vs. Europe which leans Democrat (liberal).  

The three largest powers — China, India and Japan — have all had reasons to view Bush with favor, and all have nagging fears about a Democratic administration. At a deeper level, they’ve felt comfortable enough with a United States playing power politics, while that strut-your-stuff style has appalled consensus-driven Europeans.

China does not want an America that turns inward.  Nor does Japan, which has reacted to China’s rise by reinforcing its strategic ties with the United States, and has been reassured by the Bush administration’s unequivocal commitment to America’s Asian military alliances. America-in-Asia remains a Japanese priority, ugly incidents at Okinawa notwithstanding. 

The second article which comes from Japan Today describes how 4 inmates were executed by hanging.  On the left-right spectrum, capital punishment is aligned with the right (conservatives).

Four death row inmates were hanged Thursday, Justice Minister Yukio Hatoyama said, bringing the total number of inmates executed under his orders to 10 in three rounds of executions during a four-month period.

The 10 executions under Hatoyama mark the fastest pace of executions since the Justice Ministry resumed executions in 1993 after a pause of three years and four months.

The cumulative total of inmates executed reached 67 after Thursday’s executions, while the number of inmates on death row now stands at 104. 

I have not been here long enough to have an educated opinion of Japanese politics (although I have observed 3 Prime Ministers in about a year!).  I am interested to see readers’ opinions of Japanese politics although I will add the caution to please keep posts respectful of those with differing opinions and please stay on topic.