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Michael Macarthur Bosack

Michael Macarthur Bosack

The Japan Times

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Five takeaways from the funding scandal punishments

This week, the Liberal Democratic Party formally punished 39 of its members. Those lawmakers were all implicated in a money scandal that has plagued...

05.04.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Why LDP elder Nikai's announcement is a big deal (and isn't)

This week, embattled Liberal Democratic Party faction head Toshihiro Nikai announced that he will not be running in the next Lower House election. His...

28.03.2024 10

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Is the funding scandal unraveling the LDP?

In Japan, there is a phrase tied to financial scandals that disrupt the political landscape: seiji to kane, or “politics and money.” Whenever a...

02.03.2024 30

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Japan plays a game of Pacific islands geopolitical chess

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa traveled to Samoa and Fiji to engage with Pacific island partners. There, she had bilateral...

21.02.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Geopolitical chess: Unpacking the Northern Territories conundrum

Last week, the Japanese government participated in a ceremony commemorating Northern Territories Day. At this annual event, hundreds gather to call...

13.02.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

The Rosetta Stone to decipher Japan's new security deals

The Japanese government began 2024 by concluding a flurry of security deals with international partners, garnering much attention both because of the...

05.02.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Japan unveils task force for gender-inclusive security issues

On Jan. 29, Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa presided over the launching of a new task force focused on women’s issues, including on matters of peace...

02.02.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

What the future holds for the Japanese Communist Party

This month, Japan’s oldest opposition party underwent its first leadership change in 23 years. After a decade of steadily declining seat counts in...

30.01.2024 10

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Cosmetic changes won’t fix the SDF’s recruitment problem

Japan’s Ministry of Defense recently revealed some of the changes to rectify their increasingly dire recruitment problem for the Self-Defense...

26.01.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Mired in scandal, the LDP chips away at its factions

A string of surprise announcements came on Friday. First, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was dissolving his faction within the Liberal...

22.01.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Kamikawa’s surprise visit to Ukraine sent an important signal

It was a trip that caught most people off guard: Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa suddenly appeared in Kyiv on Jan. 7, her first visit to Ukraine since...

15.01.2024 30

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

The U.S. role in Japan's domestic disaster relief

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel announced that the United States is preparing to provide military logistical support, food and other...

09.01.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Unpacking the LDP's expected leadership race

With polling numbers at historical lows and a Liberal Democratic Party presidential election scheduled for September 2024, there is little chance that...

02.01.2024 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Reviewing Japan's security moves in 2023

A year ago this month, the Japanese government published three core documents for the country’s security designs: the National Security Strategy,...

27.12.2023 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Has the funding scandal doomed the Abe faction?

This month, the Fumio Kishida administration purged senior members of the faction run by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from positions of influence...

26.12.2023 30

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Kishida tries to clean up the Liberal Democratic Party house

The purge of over a dozen Cabinet ministers, vice ministers and party executives has begun. That Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided to clean house...

14.12.2023 40

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Unpacking the scandal rocking the LDP to its core

Things have gone from bad to worse for Fumio Kishida. Already facing the lowest polling numbers of his tenure atop the government, the last thing the...

08.12.2023 30

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Takaichi makes another play to become the next PM

Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi has not been bashful about her ambitions to succeed Fumio Kishida as Japan’s prime minister. Following a...

15.11.2023 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Explaining Japan's nuanced approach to the Israel-Hamas war

When Hamas executed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israeli population centers on Oct. 7, it triggered a major test for Japan’s policies toward...

08.11.2023 20

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Prime Minister Kishida and a month of misery

It has been a miserable month for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Going into October, he was already facing downward trending public approval and a...

31.10.2023 10

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Kishida's proposed tax cuts put higher defense spending on hold

When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to double Japan’s defense spending within five years last December, most long-time observers of Japanese...

23.10.2023 10

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Defense minister’s miscue is an opening for the opposition

Japan's newly minted defense minister, Minoru Kihara, is already in hot water after just a month on the job. This past weekend, Kihara was in Sasebo,...

18.10.2023 70

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

Hamas tests the limits of Japan's Israel-Palestine policy

When Hamas forces executed rocket and ground attacks against Israeli population centers last week, all but one Group of Seven government immediately...

12.10.2023 80

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

As cracks form, Kishida’s political ship takes on water

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has done his best to keep Japanese politics boring. He has avoided any seriously contentious legislation. He has stayed...

10.10.2023 90

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

More flash than substance in Kishida’s Cabinet reshuffle

In his second Cabinet shake-up, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida brought in 11 first-time ministers, swapped out both the foreign and defense ministers...

14.09.2023 100

The Japan Times

Michael Macarthur Bosack

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