Reading the newspapers over the last few weeks, one could be forgiven for thinking that Japan is suffering a plague of corruption and insider dealing, especially by its bureaucrats.

Over the last 3 months, the trend of fewer bankruptcies is gathering momentum and under normal circumstances one might might be forgiven for thinking that the economy is recovering.

Japan's established parties should be worried about mayor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto's popularity, especially after his earlier strident anti-nuclear stance. He is quite smart, although prone to some bizarre personal values.

Now that the rise in Consumption Tax is all but assured, we think there are some very interesting changes in store for how the Japanese Government and Japanese companies think about making money.

Apart from the size, what made this demo unusual is that it wasn't organized by a specific political group. You had moms with babies, salarymen, senior citizens, Buddhist priests, and people from all walks of life.

As much as we don't like DPJ politician Ichiro Ozawa and his money-tainted politics, we have to agree with him on one thing, that raising the consumption tax in Japan could be harmful.

Japan detained a Chinese fishing trawler that was in Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands.

Once again we are reminded that like in many other countries any talk of higher taxes is a sure way to get voted down and out.

By Takaaki Ohta

Internet electioneering and Japan’s political process.

Political speeches—a staple of many democratic election processes—have not been allowed to play a major role in Japanese elections.

Whilst Taro Aso's popularity is at an all time high, there is no hiding that he is typical of the aging LDP. What Japan needs is a reformist - someone with charisma and a populist image but also manageable and not so radical.