CHRONOLOGY

November – December 2003

NOVEMBER

9 The opposition Democratic Party of Japan makes major gains in the general election for the House of Representatives, increasing its presence from 137 seats to 177. The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partners the New Kômeitô and New Conservative Party get 275 seats, less than their preelection strength of 287, but still a solid majority in the 480-member chamber. The biggest losers are the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, minor opposition parties that saw their numbers substantially reduced.

10 Following its weak performance in the election, the NCP decides to disband and merge with the LDP. At a meeting of LDP and NCP executives the following day, it is announced that the merger will formally take place on November 17.

13 Doi Takako steps down as leader of the SDP to take responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the election. The SDP lost 12 of its 18 seats, its worst performance ever. On November 15 Fukushima Mizuho is elected as the new SDP leader.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ishihara Nobuteru names Kondô Takeshi, a House of Councillors member and the former head of Itochû Corp., as the new president of Japan Highway Public Corp., succeeding Fujii Haruho, who was ousted last October in a dispute over his stewardship of the public corporation, which the government aims to privatize.

21 A Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology panel gives approval to 66 educational institutions to open law schools in April 2004. Of the 72 applying institutions, 4 are rejected, while a decision on the remaining 2 is postponed.

29 Two Japanese diplomats are killed in Iraq as the car they are riding in is raked with gunfire by assailants, assumed to be opponents of the US-led occupation, outside Tikrit. They are the first Japanese casualties in Iraq since the war began in March.

The Financial Services Agency confirms that Ashikaga Bank, a regional bank in Tochigi Prefecture that had been declared insolvent by auditors, has negative net worth. The government decides to temporarily nationalize the bank and provide it with an infusion of public funds. It is the first nationalization of a bank since 1998, and the first ever of a regional bank.

DECEMBER

2 Takei Yasuo, chairman of Takefuji Corp., Japan’s largest consumer loan firm, is arrested for ordering employees to tap the phone of a reporter who had written critically about the firm.

9 The cabinet approves a basic plan for dispatching the Self-Defense Forces and some civilian personnel to Iraq under the July 2003 Law Concerning Special Measures on Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance in Iraq. The period of time of the dispatch runs for a year starting December 15. On December 26 an advance team of 48 members of the Air Self-Defense Force leaves Japan for Kuwait and Qatar.

12 Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirô meets with the leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a summit in Tokyo. They sign the Tokyo Declaration, which pledges to expand cooperation to the political and security spheres, and adopt a joint action plan. Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko and ASEAN representatives sign a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

19 A joint meeting of the cabinet and the government’s Security Council gives official approval to the introduction of a missile defense system for Japan.

22 The government and ruling parties agree on a basic plan to privatize the four highway-related public corporations. The plan, which essentially preserves existing plans for highway construction, differs substantially from the recommendations submitted in 2002 by an advisory panel on reform of the highway corporations, and two members of that panel, including its acting chairman, Tanaka Kazuaki, resign in protest.

24 Tôhoku Electric Power Co. abandons plans to build a nuclear power plant in Maki, Niigata Prefecture. This is the first time that plans for a nuclear facility included in the government’s power development plan have been scrapped.

The cabinet approves the government’s draft of an ¥82 trillion general account budget for fiscal 2004 (April 2004 to March 2005). The budget provides for a cut in total spending for the third straight year, but new issues of bonds to cover revenue shortfalls are up 0.2% to a record high of ¥30.9 trillion.

The Japanese government halts imports of beef from the United States after the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) there.

29 After meeting with James Baker, the US special envoy on Iraqi debt, Prime Minister Koizumi announces that Japan will forgive a susbtantial portion of its credits to Iraq, which total some $7 billion, provided the other member states of the Paris Club do likewise.

© 2004 Japan Echo Inc.